



^\ 







**ч 



..• ** ^ <у7№* ^ ъ. 




/о. 





/ДОГ- Ъ л* .*лѴа\ Ч >* .VQfef. *„. л 






♦ ѵ ѣ 







/ч. 




:. ^ « •■ 
















<е. 















••' -ѵ^ 



.V 



** с о*..і" 






w 4 



ъ% 



-о „♦' 

о > . 

% •••'• ^ #§ ^ ♦.То' ч ^" °о^ *?*%•' f ; 

fc\ >*%Й& Ч ^ ѵ /Ж> %. </ лив*. 



. •** 




L. N. TOLSTOY IN 1908 



RUSSIAN AUTHORS' LIBRARY 

LEO TOLSTOY 

THE 

PATHWAY OF LIFE 



TRANSLATED BY 
ARCHIBALD J. WOLFE 



РАРчТ I 



NEW YORK 
INTERNATIONAL BOOK PUBLISHING COMPANY 

1919 



<$$ 



COPYRIGHT, im 



'CI.A515773 



oUN 



•2 Ibl9 



то 
WOODROW WILSON— the PEACEMAKER 

RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 

BY THE 

PUBLISHERS 



PUBLISHERS' PREFACE 

'THE PATHWAY OF LIFE" is Tolstoy's post- 
humous message to an erring and suffering world. 
Never since the days when Christ's message from Heaven 
brought life and comfort to a war-torn, sinful and suffering 
world, has mankind been so eager and ripe for a gospel 
of right living and right thinking as it is to-day, emerg- 
ing from the titanic struggle which has so deeply stirred 
its passions and emotions. 

Communing with the minds of the great thinkers and 
teachers of all ages, Tolstoy in the course of his epic career 
gathered the pearls of wisdom from the spiritual treas- 
uries of many races and many periods in the history of 
mankind. These lofty thoughts relating to the spiritual 
aspirations, the temporal requirements and the moral con- 
duct of man, Tolstoy retold in his own language, ar- 
ranging them under suitable captions, and interspersing 
them with the expressions of his own attitude to the prob- 
lems of life. The resulting monumental work is for the 
first time presented to mankind in these two volumes. Any 
new presentation of Tolstoy's work commands the respect- 
ful attention of the world. But there is healing of wounds 
and divine inspiration in "THE PATHWAY OF LIFE" 
that lend it the added preciousness of significant timeliness. 

Filled with the yearning to help his fellow-man strug- 
gling against sin, error, superstition and temptation, the 
sage labored on this compilation down to his last days, 



reverting to this labor of love even after the distressing 
fainting spells that preceded his decease, until, very shortly 
before his death, in "THE PATHWAY OF LIFE," he 
succeeded in collating the consensus of human wisdom and 
genius of all lands and all ages into a modern gospel that 
bears the self-evident impress of divine truth and im- 
mortality. 

The publishers reverently offer this work of Tolstoy to 
thinking humanity. 



TRANSLATOR'S NOTE 

Not by way of apology, but by way of explanation, 
and for the reader's better understanding, the translator 
feels justified in forsaking for a moment the position of 
inobtrusive retirement which is characteristic of good 
translating and supplementing the publisher's preface with 
a note of his own. 

The collection of thoughts on the spiritual problems 
of life offered in these volumes contains much material 
that was obviously not intended by the author for pub- 
lication in its present form. The general arrangement, 
the sub-headings and all unsigned paragraphs and essays 
are Tolstoy's own. Many extracts appear to be credited 
to philosophers and sages of various tongues and periods, 
but in rendering these into the Russian language Tolstoy 
followed the original somewhat vaguely, interpreting the 
idea rather than translating word for w^rd so that in re- 
translation the wording frequently does not accurately 
coincide with the original, and the names following these 
extracts may be taken to indicate their source merely rather 
than their literal authorship in every instance. 

Here and there the reader will find cruuities in ex- 
pression and even in phrasing. These may be inten- 
tional, for Tolstoy loved to use rough-hewn speech in con- 
veying plain ideas, just as he was plain in personal attire 
and mode of life; or the crudities may be due to the 
fragmentary nature of some of the material, the editors 



having included many memoranda and jottings that the 
author had no opportunity to go over and revise. The 
translator feels content to have resisted the temptation of 
retouching with a profane brush these slight imperfections 
that can not mar the grandeur of a temple to him who 
views it as a whole. 

In conclusion a grateful acknowledgment is made of 
the helpful suggestions offered by Dorothy Brewster, Ph. D., 
who read the manuscript in the translation. 

Archibald J. Wolfe. 



AUTHOR'S FOREWORD 

The sayings in these volumes are of varied authorship, 
having been gathered from Brahminical, Confucian and 
Buddhist sources, from the Gospels and the Epistles, and 
from the works of numerous thinkers both ancient and 
modern. The greater part of these sayings have suffered 
some alteration in form either as translated or as re-stated 
by me, and it is therefore hardly convenient to print them 
over the signatures of their original authors. The best of 
these unsigned sayings have their source in the minds of 
the foremost sages of the world and are not my authorship. 

Tolstoy. 



CONTENTS 

Vol. I. 

Faith 15 

God 29 

The Soul 45 

There is One Soul in All 63 

Love 77 

Sins, Errors and Superstitions 97 

Surfeit 113 

Sexual Lusts 127 

Sloth 143 

Covetousness 159 

Anger 173 

Pride 189 

Inequality 199 

Force 213 

Punishment 235 

Vanity 253 

False Religions 267 

False Science 283 



FAITH 



FAITH 

In order to live right, man must know what he ought 
to do, and what he ought not to do. In order to know this, 
he needs faith. Faith is the knowledge of what man is, and 
for what purpose he lives with the world. And such is the 
faith which has been and is held by all rational people. 

I. 

What is the True Faith? 

1. In order to live right, it is needful to understand 
what life is, as well as what to do and what not to do in this 
life. These things have been taught at all times by the 
wisest and best living men of all races. The teachings of 
all these wise men, in the main, agree as one. This one doc- 
trine common to all people as to what is the life of man, and 
how to live it, is the true faith. 

2. What is this world which has no limits in any 
direction, the beginning and the end of which are alike un- 
known to me, and what is my life in this infinite world, and 
how must I live it? 

Faith alone can answer these questions. 

3. True religion is to know that law which is above all 
human laws, and which is the one law for all the people in 
the world. 

4. There may be many false faiths, but there is only 
one true faith. Kant. 

5. If you doubt your faith, it is no longer faith. 
Faith is only then a true faith, when you do not even 

harbor a thought that what you believe could be untrue. 

6. There are two faiths : one being confidence in what 
is said by people — this is faith in a man or in people ; such 
faiths are many and varied. 



16 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

And there is the faith in my dependence on Him who 
sent me into this world. This is faith in God, and such faith 
is one for all people. 

II. 

The Doctrine of True Faith is Always Clear and Simple 

1. To have faith is to trust in what is being revealed 
to us, without asking why it is so, and what will come out 
of it. Such is the true faith. It shows us what we are, and 
what we ought to do because of it, but it does not tell us 
what will be the outcome if we do that which our faith 
commands us to do. 

If I have faith in God, I need not ask what will be the 
outcome of my obedience to God, because I know that God 
is love, and nothing can come from love but what is good. 

2. The true law of life is so simple, clear and intel- 
ligible that men cannot seek to excuse their evil life by 
pleading ignorance of the law. If people live contrary to 
the law of true life, there is only one thing left for them 
to do: to abjure their reason. And this is exactly what 
they do. 

3. Some say that the fulfilment of the law of God is 
difficult. This is not true. The law of life asks nothing 
of us but to love our neighbor. And to love is not difficult, 
but pleasant. Scovcroda. 

4. When a man comes to know the true faith, he is 
like unto a man lighting a lamp in a dark chamber. All 
things become clear, and joy enters his soul. 

III. 

True Faith is to Love God and Your Neighbor 

1. "Love one another, even as I have loved you, thus 
shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 17 

love one to another," said Christ. He did not say : "If you 
believe this or that," but "if you have love." Faith with 
different people, and in different times, may differ, but love 
is one and the same at all times and with all people. 

2. The true faith is one — to love all that is living. 

Ibrahim of Cordova. 

3. Love bestows blessedness on people because it 
unites man with God. 

4. Christ revealed to men that the eternal is not 
identical with the future, but that the eternal, the unseen, 
dwells within us right now, in this life, and that we attain 
eternal life when we become one with God, the Spirit in 
whom all things move and have their being. 

We can attain this eternal life through love alone. 

IV. 

Faith Guides the Life of Man 

1. Only he truly knows the law of life who does that 
which he regards as the law of life. 

2. All faith is merely a reply to this question: how 
must I live in the world not before men, but before Him 
who sent me into the world? 

3. In the true faith it is not important to be able to 
talk interestingly about God, about the soul, about the past 
or the future, but one thing alone is essential : to know firm- 
ly what you ought to do and what you ought not to do 
in this life. Kant. 

4. If a man does not live happily, it is only because 
such a man has no faith. This may be the case with 
entire nations. If a nation does not live happily, it is only 
because the nation has lost its faith. 



18 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

5. The life of man is good or evil only as he under- 
stands the true law of life. The more clearly man under- 
stands the true law of life, the better is his life; the more 
hazy is his understanding of that law, the worse is his life. 

6. In order to escape from that mire of sin, vice and 
misery wherein they live, people have need of one thing 
alone : they need a faith in which they would live, not as 
now — each for himself — but a common life, all acknowl- 
edging one law and one purpose. Only then might people 
repeating the words of the Lord's Prayer : "Thy Kingdom 
come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven," hope 
that the Kingdom of God will indeed descend upon earth. 

Mazzini. 

7. If any faith teaches that we must give up this life 
for life everlasting, it is a false faith. To give up this 
life for life everlasting is impossible, because eternal life 
is already in this life. Hindu Philosophy. 

8. The stronger the faith of man, the firmer his life. 
The life of man without faith is the life of a beast. 

V. 

False Faith 

1. The law of life, namely to love God and your neigh- 
bor, is simple and clear. Every man on attaining reason 
recognizes it in his heart. Therefore, if it were not for 
false teachings, all men would adhere to this law, and the 
Kingdom of Heaven would reign upon earth. 

But false teachers, at all times and in all places, taught 
men to acknowledge as God that which was not God, and as 
God's law that which was not God's law. And men believed 
in these false teachings and departed from the true law of 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 19 

life and from the fulfilment of His true law, and this made 
their life harder to bear and more unhappy. 

Therefore one must not believe any teachings that do 
not agree with love »of God and of your neighbor. 

2. It must not be thought that because a faith " is 
ancient, it is therefore true. On the contrary, the longer 
people live, the more clearly they grasp the true law of 
life. To think that in our times we must believe in the same 
things in which our grandfathers and our great-grandfathers 
had believed is to think that when you are grown to man's 
estate, the garments of your children still might fit you. 

3. We are perturbed because we can no longer believe 
in that in which our fathers used to believe. We must 
not let this perturb us, but try instead to establish within 
us such a faith in which we can believe as firmly as our 
fathers believed in their faith. Martineau. 

4. In order to know the true faith, man must first 
for a season give up that faith in which he had blindly 
believed, and then examine in the light of his reason all 
that which he had been taught since childhood. 

5. A laborer who dwelt in the city was proceeding 
homeward one day after his work was done. As he was 
leaving his place of employment he met a stranger, and 
the stranger said: "Let us go together, we are bound 
for the same place, and I know the road well." The 
laborer believed him, and they departed together. 

They had walked for an hour or more, when the 
laborer noticed that the road was different from the one 
he was in the habit of taking into the city. And he said : 
"I think this is not the right road." And the stranger 
replied: "This is the only true and the shortest road. Be- 
lieve me, for I know it well." The laborer believed him 
and continued to follow him. But the further he went, 



20 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

the worse the road proved to be, and the more difficult the 
walking. And he was compelled to spend all his earn- 
ings to sustain himself, and still failed to reach home. 
Yet the further he walked, the more firmly he believed 
that he was on the right road, and finally he was convinced 
himself that it was so. And the reason why he became 
so convinced was because he did not like to turn back, and 
always hoped that the road would finally take him to his 
destination. And he strayed a long, long way from home, 
and was wretched for a long time. 

Thus it is with people who do not listen to the voice 
of the spirit within themselves, but listen to the voice of 
strangers regarding God and His law. 

6. It is bad not to know God, but it is worse to ac- 
knowledge as God that which is not God. 

VI. 
External Worship 

1. True faith is to believe in that ^ne law which befits 
all the people in the world. 

2. True faith enters the heart in stillness and solitude 
only. 

3. True faith consists in living always a good life, 
loving all men, doing unto others as you would have 
others do unto you. 

This, indeed, is the true faith. And this is the faith 
that all truly wise men and men of saintly life have always 
taught among all nations. 

4. Jesus did not say to the Samaritans: Leave your 
beliefs for those of the Jews. He did not say to the 
Jews : Join the Samaritans. But he said to the Jews and 
to the Samaritans: You are alike in error. Not Garisim, 
nor yet Jerusalem avails anything. The time will come, 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 21 

nay, has already come, when men will worship the Father 
neither in Garisim nor yet in Jerusalem, but true worship- 
pers will worship the Father in spirit and in the truth, for 
such are the worshippers whom the Father seeketh. 

Jesus was seeking such worshippers in the days of 
Jerusalem. He is seeking them still in these days. 

5. A master had a laborer. The same lived in his 
master's house and saw the master face to face many times 
each day. The laborer little by little neglected his labors, 
and finally grew so lazy that he would do nothing at all. 
The master noticed this but said nothing and merely turned 
his face from him whenever he met him. The laborer 
saw that his master was not satisfied with him, and planned 
to regain his master's favor without laboring. He sought 
out his master's friends and acquaintances and begged 
them to intercede with the master so that he should no 
longer be angry with him. The Master learned of this, 
and calling the laborer said: "Why do you ask people to 
intercede for you? You have me always with you and 
you can tell me face to face whatever is needful." But 
the laborer did not know what to say and departed. And 
he conceived a new plan: he gathered eggs belonging to 
his master, caught one of his master's fowls, and took 
them to him as a present to avert his wrath. And the 
master said: "First you ask my friends to plead for you, 
although you can freely speak to me for yourself. Then 
you mean to propitiate me with presents. But all that you 
have is mine already. Even if you brought me what is 
truly yours, I require no presents." Thereupon the laborer 
adopted a new scheme: he composed verses in his master's 
honor and standing outside his master's window loudly 
shouted and sang his verses, calling his master's great, 
(omnipresent, all-powerful father, merciful benefactor. 



22 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

Then the master summoned the laborer again and said: 
"You once attempted to please me through others, then 
brought me gifts of what was my own, and now you have 
a still more ridiculous plan : you shout and sing concern- 
ing me, saying that I am all-powerful, merciful, this and 
that. You sing and you shout about me, but you do not 
know me, neither do you seem to want to know me. I 
need not the pleas of others in your behalf, nor your gifts, 
nor your praises regarding things you cannot know; all I 
need of you is your labor." 

All God requires of us is good works. 

Therein is the entire law of God. 

VII. 

The Idea of a Reward for a Good Life is Foreign to 
True Faith 

If a man adheres to a religion merely because he ex- 
pects all sorts of external future rewards for the fulfilment 
of the works of his religion, this is not faith, but calcula- 
tion, and in all cases an erroneous calculation. It is an 
erroneous calculation, because true faith yields its blessings 
only in the present, but does not, cannot give any external 
blessings in the future. 

A man set forth to hire himself out as a laborer. And 
he met two stewards seeking to hire laborers. He told 
them that he was seeking work. And the two began to in- 
vite him each to labor for his master. One said: "Come 
to my master, for his is a good place. Of course, if you 
do not please him, he will thrash you and place you in 
prison; but if you do please him, you cannot have a better 
life. When your labor is ended, you will live without 
toiling, enjoying an endless feast with wine, fine meats 
and entertainments. Only try to please the master, and 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 23 

your life will be too wonderful for description." Thus 
pleaded one of the stewards. 

The other steward also invited him to work for his 
master, but did not tell him how his master would reward 
him; he did not even mention where and how the laborer 
would live, whether the task was hard or light, but only 
stated that his master was good, inflicting no punishments, 
and that he lived together with his own hired laborers. 

And the man thought thus of the first master: "He 
promises a little too much. In fairness there is no need 
to promise so much. Tempted by the promise of a life 
of pleasure, I might find myself very poorly off. And the 
master, doubtless, is very stern, for he punishes severely 
those who fail to do as he says. I think I will rather go 
to the second master, for although he promises nothing, 
they say he is kind and lives in common with his laborers." 

The same is true of religious teachings. Some teach- 
ers beguile men into good living by terrifying them with 
threats of punishment and deceiving them with promises 
of rewards in another world which no one has ever seen. 
Other teachers teach that love, the principle of life, dwells 
in the souls of men, and he who unites with it is happy. 

3. If you serve God for the sake of bliss everlasting, 
you do not serve God, but serve your own ends. 

4. The principal difference between true and false 
faith is this : In false faith man desires God to reward him 
for his sacrifices and prayers. In the true faith man seeks 
one thing alone : To learn how to please God. 

VIII. 

Reason Verifies the Principles of Faith 
1. In order to know the true faith, it is not necessary 
to suppress the voice of reason, but on the contrary, reason 



24 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

must be purified and exerted in order that we may examine 
by it that which is taught by teachers of religion. 

2. It is not by reason that we attain faith. But reason 
is necessary to examine the faith that is taught us. 

3. Do not fear to eliminate from your faith all that 
is superfluous, carnal, visible, amenable to senses, as well 
as all that is confused and lacking in clearness; the better 
you purify the spiritual kernel, the more clearly will you 
grasp the true law of life. 

4. Not he is an unbeliever who does not believe all 
that the people around him believe, but he is truly an un- 
believer who thinks and affirms that he believes something 
which in reality he does not believe. 

IX. 

The Religious Consciousness of People Strives 
Constantly After Perfection 

1. We must benefit by the teachings of the wise and 
holy men of old regarding the law of life, but we must 
examine them by our own reason, accepting all that is in 
accord with reason, rejecting all that is in conflict therewith. 

2. If, in order not to stray from the law of God, man 
hesitates to leave the faith once adopted by him, he is like 
unto a man who bound himself with a rope to a post so that 
he should not lose his way. L ucy Mallory. 

3. It is strange that the majority of people believe 
most firmly in the most ancient religious teachings, which 
no longer are suitable to our time, but reject all new 
teachings as superfluous and harmful. Such men forget 
that if God revealed the truth to the ancients, He still re- 
mains the same and can also reveal it to men who lived 
in latter times and to those who live to-day. 

Thoreau. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 25 

4. The law of life cannot change, but people can grasp 
it more and more clearly, and learn how to fulfill it in life. 

5. Religion is not true for the reason that holy men 
have preached it, but holy men have preached it for the 
reason that it is true. Lessing. 

6. When rain-water flows from the roof-gutter, it 
seems to us as though it came from it. But rain, indeea, 
falleth from above. Even so with the teachings of wise 
men and holy: We think that the teachings come from 
them, but they proceed from God. 

From Rama-Krishna. 



GOD 



GOD 

Besides all that is corporeal within us, and in the en- 
tire universe, we know something incorporeal which gives 
life to our body and is connected with it. This incorporeal 
something, connected with our body, we call our soul. The 
same incorporeal something, but not connected with any- 
thing, and giving life to everything that lives, we call God. 

I. 

God is Known of Man From Within 

1. The foundation of all faith is in the fact that in 
addition to what we see and feel in our bodies and in the 
bodies of other creatures, there is something else that is 
invisible, incorporeal, yet giving life to us and to every- 
thing that is visible and corporeal. 

2. I know that there is something within me without 
which there would be nothing. This is what I call God. 

Angelus. 

3. Every man meditating on what he is can not help 
seeing that he is not all, but a specific separate part of 
something. And having grasped it, man usually thinks 
that this something from which he is separated is that ma- 
terial world, which he sees, that earth whereon he lives and 
whereon his ancestors lived before him, that sky, those 
stars and that sun which he sees. 

But if a man gives this subject a little more thought 
or discovers that the wise men of this world have thought 
about it, he must realize that the SOMETHING from 
which men feel themselves separated is not the material 
world which extends in every direction in space, and also 
without end in time, but is something else. If a man medi- 
tates more deeply on this subject, and learns what the wise 



30 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

men have always believed regarding it, he must realize 
that the material world which had no beginning and will 
have no end and which neither has nor can have any limits 
in space, is not anything real, but is only a dream of ours, 
and therefore that SOMETHING from which we feel our- 
selves separated, is something that has neither beginning 
nor end in time or in space, but is something immaterial, 
something spiritual. 

This spiritual something which man acknowledges as 
his beginning, is the very thing which all the wise men have 
always called and still are calling God. 

4. To know God is possible only within oneself. Until 
you find God within yourself, you will nowhere find him. 

There is no God for him who cannot find Him within 
himself. 

5. I know within me a spiritual being which is apart 
from everything else. I equally know the same spiritual 
being, apart from everything else, in other people. But if 
I know this spiritual being within myself and in others, it 
can not but exist within itself. This spiritual being within 
itself we call God. 

6. It is not you who Hive; what you call yourself, is 
dead. That which animates you is God. Angelas. 

7. Do not think that you can earn merit with God by 
works ; all works are as nothing before God. It is needful 
not to earn merit before God, but to be God. Angelus. 

8. If we did not see with our eyes, hear with our ears 
and touch with our fingers, we could know nothing of what 
is around us. And if we did not know God within our- 
selves, we should not know ourselves, we should not know 
that within ourselves which sees, hears and touches the 
world around us. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 31 

9. He who does not know how to become a son of 
God, will for ever remain on the plane of the animal. 

Angehis. 

10. If I live a wordly life, I can do without God. But 
if I only give thought to what I am, where I came from, 
when I was born, where I will go when I die, I must admit 
that there is something from which I sprang and to which 
I am going. I can not deny that I came into this world 
from something that is incomprehensible to me, and that I 
am going to something equally incomprehensible to me. 

This incomprehensible something from which I come 
and to which I am going, I call God. 

11. They say that God is Love, or that Love is God. 
They say also that God is Reason, or that Reason is God. 
Neither is strictly true. Love and Reason are those char- 
acteristics of God which we recognize within ourselves, but 
what He is within Himself we can not know. 

12. It is well to fear God, but it is better to love Him. 
But best of all it is to resurrect Him within. Angelus. 

13. Man must love, but one can truly love only that 
in which there is no evil. And there is only one Being in 
whom there is no evil : namely God. 

14. If God did not love Himself in you, you could 
never love yourself, God or your neighbor. Angelus. 

15. Though men differ as to what is God, none the 
less all who believe in God, always agree as to what God 
wants of them. 

16. God loves solitude. He will enter your heart when 
He may be there alone, when you think of Him, and of 
him only, Angelus. 



32 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

17. The Arabs have a tale about Moses. Wandering 
in the desert Moses heard a shepherd praying to God. And 
this is how the shepherd prayed: "God, oh, that I could 
meet Thee face to face and become Thy servant! With 
what joy would I wash Thy feet, kiss them, put sandals 
upon them, comb Thy hair, wash Thy raiment, care for 
Thy dwelling, bring. Thee of the milk of my herd. My 
heart is longing for Thee. ,, And Moses hearing these words 
of the shepherd was angry and said: "Thou blasphemer! 
God has no body. He needs no raiment, nor dwelling, nor 
the care of servants. Thy words are evil." And the shep- 
herd was saddened. He could not imagine God without 
body and without bodily needs, and being unable to pray 
to God and to serve Him as he ought, he fell into despair. 
Then God said unto Moses: "Why didst Thou turn away 
from Me my faithful servant? Each man has his own 
thoughts and his own words. What is good for one, is 
evil for another. What is poison to thee, may be even as 
sweet honey to another. Words mean nothing. I see the 
heart of him who turns to Me." 

18. Men speak of God in various ways, but feel and 
understand Him in the same way. 

19. Man can not help believing in God any more than 
he can help walking on two feet. This belief may assume 
different forms, it may be suppressed altogether, but with- 
out his belief he can not understand himself. 

Lichtenberg. 

20. Though man may not know that he is breathing 
air, he knows when he is suffocating that he lacks some- 
thing without which he can not live. The same is true of 
the man who has lost God, although he may not know from 
what he is suffering. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 33 

II. 

A Rational Man is Bound to Acknowledge God 

1. Some say of God that He dwells in heaven. It is 
also said that He dwells in man. Both statements are true : 
He is in heaven, that is, in the limitless universe, and He 
is also in the soul of man. 

2. Sensing the existence within his own individual 
body of a spiritual and indivisible being — namely God, and 
seeing the same God in everything that is living, man asks 
himself: why has God, a spiritual being one and indivisible, 
confined Himself within individual bodies of creatures, 
mine and others? Why has a spiritual being, a Unity, 
divided itself, as it were, within itself? Why has the spir- 
itual and indivisible become separate and corporeal? Why 
has the immortal allied itself with the mortal? 

And only that man can answer these questions who ful- 
fills the will of Him who has sent him into this world. 

"All this is done for the sake of my blessedness," such 
a man can say, "I thank Him and ask no more questions." 

3. That which we call God we see both in the heavens 
and in every man. 

On a wintry night, if you gaze upon the sky and see 
stars upon stars, and without end, and consider that many 
of these stars are very much larger than this earth of ours 
whereon we live, and that behind the stars which we see 
there are hundreds, thousands, millions of stars as large 
and larger even, and that there is no end to the stars and 
the heavens, you must realize that there is something which 
you can not grasp. 

But if we look within our own self, and sense there 
that which we call our soul, when we see within our own 
self something that we likewise fail to grasp, but something 
which we know more assuredly than anything else, and 



34 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

through which we know all that is, then we see even in our 
own soul something still more incomprehensible, something 
still greater than that which we see in the heavens. 

That which we see in the heavens and sense within 
our own soul is the very thing we call God. 

4. At all times and among all peoples there has been 
a belief in some invisible power sustaining the world. 

The ancients called it universal reason, nature, life, 
eternity; Christians call it Spirit, Father, Lord, Reason, 
Truth. 

The visible, changeable world is like a shadow of this 
power. 

As God is eternal, so is the visible world, His shadow, 
eternal. 

But the visible world is merely the shadow. Only the 
invisible power — God — truly exists. Scovoroda. 

5. There is a being without whom neither heaven, nor 
earth could exist. This being is serene and incorporeal, his 
characteristics we call love and reason, but the being itself 
has no name. It is infinitely remote and infinitely near. 

Lao-Tse. 

6. A man was asked how he knew that there is a God. 
He answered: "Does one need a candle to see the sunrise?" 

7. If a man counts himself great, it is a proof that he 
does not look upon things from the height of God. 

Angelus. 

8. One may give no thought to the world which is in- 
finite in all directions, or to the soul that is conscious of 
itself ; but if one only gives a little thought to these matters, 
one can not help acknowledging that which we call God. 

9. There is a girl in America, born deaf, dumb and 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 35 

blind. She was taught to read and write by the sense of 
touch. Her teacher was telling her about God, and the 
child remarked that she had always known about it, but 
did not know how to call it. 

III. 

The Will of God 

1. We know God less by our reason than by a feeling 
akin to that of an infant in his mother's arms. 

The infant does not know who is holding him, keeping 
him warm, feeding him, but knows that someone is doing 
it, and moreover he not only knows that one, in whose 
power he is, but loves her. Even so it is with man. 

2. The more a man fulfills the will of God, the better 
he knows Him. 

If a man fails altogether to fulfill the will of God, he 
does not know Him at all, though he might affirm that he 
knew Him or pray to Him. 

3. Even as you must come closer to a thing in order 
to know it, so you may know God only if you draw nigh 
unto Him. And to draw nigh unto God it is possible only 
by good works. And the more a man accustoms himself 
to live a good life, the more closely he will know God. And 
the better he knows God, the better he will love his fellow- 
men. One thing leads to the other. 

4. We can not know God. Only this we can know 
about Him: His law and His will, as related to us in the 
New Testament. Knowing His law, we draw the conclu- 
sion that He exists, who has given the law, but we can not 
know the lawgiver Himself. We only truly know that we 
must fulfill the Godgiven law in our own life, and that our 
life becomes better to the extent that we fulfill His law. 

5. Man can not help feeling that something is being 



36 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

done with his life, that he is someone's instrument. And 
if he is someone's instrument, there is someone who is work- 
ing with this instrument. And this someone is God. 

6. It is astonishing how I formerly failed to recognize 
this simple truth that back of this world and the life we 
are living in it there is Something, there is Someone who 
knows why this world exists, and why we are in it like 
bubbles rising to the surface in boiling water, bursting and 
disappearing. 

Yes, something is being done in this world, something 
is being done with all these living creatures, something is 
being done with me, with my life. Otherwise, why this 
sun, these springs, these winters? Why these sufferings, 
births, deaths, benefactions, crimes, why all these individual 
creatures who apparently have no meaning for me, and yet 
live their lives to the utmost, guarding their lives so strenu- 
ously, creatures in whose hearts the passion to live is so 
strongly intrenched? The lives of these creatures convince 
me more than anything else that all these things are neces- 
sary for some purpose, and that this purpose is rational 
and good, but is incomprehensible to me. 

7. My spiritual "I" is no kinsman to my body, there- 
fore it is in my body not of its own volition, but in ac- 
cordance with some higher will. 

This higher will is what we understand as God and 
call God. 

8. God is neither to be worshipped, nor praised. One 
can only be silent about Him and serve Him. Angelus. 

9. As long as a man sings and shouts and repeats in 
the presence of others: "Lord, Lord," know that he has 
not found God. He who has found Him maintains silence. 

Rama-Krishna. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 37 

10. In evil movements one does not feel God, one 
doubts Him. And salvation is always in one thing alone — 
and it is sure : cease to think about God, but think of His 
law only and fulfill it, love all men, and doubts will vanish, 
and you will find God again. 

IV. 

God Can Not Be Known By Reason 

1. It is possible, and it is easy to feel God in oneself. 
But to know God as He is, is impossible and unnecessary. 

2. It is impossible to recognize by reason that there is 
a God and that there is a soul in man. It is equally impos- 
sible to know by reason that there is no God or that there 
is no soul. Pascal. 

3. Why am I separated from all else, and why do I 
know that all that exists from which I am separated, and 
why can I not understand what this All is? Why is my "I" 
forever undergoing a change? I cannot understand it at 
all. But I can not help thinking that there is a meaning in 
it all, I can not help thinking that there is a being to whom 
all this is clear, who knows why it is all so. 

4. Every man may feel God, but no one may know 
Him. For this reason do not strive to comprehend Him, 
but strive to do His will, strive to sense Him more and more 
vividly within yourself. 

5. The God whom we have comprehended is no longer 
God. The comprehended God becomes as finite as our own 
self. God can not be comprehended. He is incomprehens- 
ible. Vivckananda. 

6. If the sun blinds your eyes, you can not say there 
is no sun. Neither can you say there is no God, because 



38 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

your reason is lost and confused when you endeavor to 
comprehend the beginning and the cause of everything. 

Angelus. 

7. "Why dost thou ask My name ?" says God to Moses. 
"If thou canst see back of all that moves what has ever 
been, is and will be, thou wilt know Me. My name is the 
same as My being. I am who I am. I am that what is. 
He who would know My name, does not know Me." 

Scovoroda. 

8. Reason that may be fathomed, is not the eternal 
reason; the being that may be named, is not the supreme 
being. Lao-Tse. 

9. To me God is that towards which I am striving, in 
striving towards which consists my life ; and who exists for 
me for the very reason, and imperatively so, that I may 
not comprehend Him or name Him. If I could comprehend 
Him, I could attain to Him, and there would be nothing 
towards which I could strive, and there would be no life. 
But I can not comprehend Him, I can not name Him, but 
withal I know Him, I know the way to Him, and of all 
things which I know this knowledge is even the most certain. 

It is strange that I do not comprehend Him, and withal 
I am always in fear when I am without Him, and only then 
am I free from fear when I am with Him. It is still more 
strange that it is needless to know Him better or more 
closely than I know Him in this present life. I may draw 
near to Him, and I long to do so, and therein is my life, 
but approaching Him does not, can not increase my com- 
prehension. Every attempt of my imagination to compre- 
hend (for instance as the Creator, as the Merciful One, or 
something of that order) only puts me further away from 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 39 

Him and arrests my approach to Him. Even the pronoun 
"He" somehow belittles Him. 

10. Anything that may be said of God is unlike Him. 
God can not be expressed in words. Angelus. 

V. 

Unbelief in God 

1. The rational man finds within himself the idea of 
his soul and of the universal soul — God, and realizing his 
inability to reduce these ideas to absolute clearness, humbly 
stops before them and does not touch the veil. 

But there have always been, and there still are men of 
mental refinement and erudition who seek to elucidate the 
idea of God in words. I do not judge these men. Only 
they are wrong when they say that there is no God. 

I admit that it may happen that men and the cunning 
exploits of men may for a time convince some that there 
is no God, but such godlessness can not last. In one way 
or another man will always need God. If Deity manifested 
itself still more clearly than now, I am convinced that men 
contrary to God would invent new refinements to deny Him. 
Reason always bows to that which the heart demands. 

Rousseau. 

2. According to the teachings of Lao-Tse, to think that 
there is no God is like believing that when one blows with 
the bellows the current proceeds from the bellows and not 
from the air around, and that the bellows would blow even 
if there were no air. 

3. When men who lead a wicked life say that there is 
no God, they are right : God is only for those who look 
in His direction, and draw nigh to Him. For those who 



40 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

have turned away from Him and are walking away from 
Him, there is no God, there can be no God. 

4. Two kinds of men may know God : men of a humble 
heart, whether they are clever or ignorant, and truly wise 
men. Only proud men, and men of average intelligence do 
not know God. Pascal. 

5. It is possible not to mention the name of God, not 
to use that expression, but it is impossible not to acknowl- 
edge Him. If there be no God, nothing can be. 

6. There is no God only for Him who does not seek 
Him. Seek Him, and He will reveal Himself to you. 

7. Moses cries out to God: "Where will I find Thee, 
О Lord?" God answers: "Thou hast already found Me, 
if Thou seekest Me." 

8. If the thought enters your head that whatever you 
have believed about God is untrue, that there is no God, be 
not disturbed, for you may know that this is apt to happen 
to everybody. Only do not imagine that because you have 
ceased to believe in God in whom you once believed, it is 
because there is no God. If you do not believe in the God 
in whom you once believed, it is because there was some- 
thing erroneous in your belief. 

If the savage ceases to believe in his god of wood, it 
does not mean that there is no God, but merely that God 
is not made of wood. We cannot comprehend God, but we 
can be more and more conscious of Him. So that if we 
discard a crude notion of God, it is really better for us. It 
helps us to have a better and a higher consciousness of God. 

9. To prove that there is a God! Can there be any- 
thing more absurd than the idea of proving the existence of 
God? To prove the existence of God is like proving that 
you are living. Prove it to whom? By what argument? 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 41 

For what purpose? If there is no God, there is nothing. 
How can we prove God? 

10. God is. We do not have to prove it. Proving that 
there is a God is a blasphemy; denying His existence is 
madness. God lives in our conscience, in the consciousness 
of humanity, in the surrounding universe. To deny God 
beneath the dome of the starry firmament, over the graves 
of our loved ones, before the glorious death of a martyr 
put to death — only a very pitiable, or a very depraved man 
is capable of doing so. Mazzini. 

VI. 

Loving God 

"I do not understand what it means to love God. Is it 
possible to love something incomprehensible and unknown? 
To love your neighbor, that is intelligible and good, but to 
love God is a mere phrase. " Many people speak and think 
in this manner. But people who speak and think thus, are 
gravely in error. They do not understand what it means 
to love their neighbor, not someone agreeable or useful to 
them, but all men equally, though they be the most dis- 
agreeable and hostile men. Only he can love his neighbor 
in this manner who loves God, that God who is the same in 
all men. Thus not the love of God is unintelligible, but the 
love of fellow-man without the love of God. 



THE SOUL 



THE SOUL 

The intangible, invisible, incorporeal something, which 
gives life to all that is living, which is per se, we call God. 
The same intangible, invisible, incorporeal principle, which 
is separated by the body from all else, and of which we are 
conscious as self, we call the soul. 



What is the Soul? 

1. A man who has attained old age has passed through 
many vicissitudes : he was first an infant, then a child, an 
adult, an old man. But no matter how he has changed, he 
always calls himself "I." This ''I" has always remained 
the same. This "I м was the same in his infancy, in his 
period of maturity, in his old age. This unchanging "I й we 
call the soul. 

2. If a man imagines that what he sees all around, 
the infinite universe, is just as he sees it, he is very much 
in error. All material things man knows only through his 
individual sense of sight, hearing and touch. Were his 
senses different, the whole world would appear different. 
Therefore we do not know, we can not know this material 
world as it is. Only one thing we truly and fully know, 
namely our soul. 

II. 

The "I" is Spiritual 

1. When we say "V we do not refer to our body, but 
to that by which our body lives. What is then this "I"? 
We can not put into words what this "I" is, but we know 
it better than anything else that we know. We know that 
but for this "I" we should know nothing, there would be 
nothing in the world for us, and we ourselves should not be. 



46 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

2. When I think about it, it is more difficult for me 
to understand what my body is than what my soul is. As 
close as it is to me, the body is something foreign, it is 
the soul that is MINE. 

3. If a man is not conscious of the soul within him- 
self, it does not prove that he has no soul, but only that 
he has not yet learned to be aware of the soul within 
himself. 

4. Until we have realized what is within us, what 
good is it to us to know what is beyond us ? And is it pos- 
sible to know the world without knowing ourselves? Can 
he who is blind at home, possess sight when he is abroad ? 

Scovoroda. 

5. Just as a candle can not burn without a fire, man 
can not live without a spiritual life. The spirit dwells in 
all men, but not all men are aware of this. 

Happy is the life of him who knows this, and unhappy 
his life who does not know it. Brahminic wisdom. 

III. 

The Soul and the Material World 
1. We have measured the earth, the sun, the stars 
and the depths of the sea, we have penetrated the bowels of 
the earth in search of gold, we have explored rivers, the 
mountains of the moon, we have discovered new stars and 
know their dimensions, we have filled up abysses, we have 
built cunning machinery : not a day passes, but we have 
new inventions. Is there a limit to our capabilities? But 
something, the most important thing is lacking. What that 
is we do not know ourselves. We are like babes : the infant 
feels that something" is wrong, but what or why, he does 
not know. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 47 

Something is wrong because we know much that is 
superfluous, but do not know the most needful thing: our 
own self. We do not know what dwells within us. If we 
knew and remembered what dwells within us, our lives 
would be altogether different. Scovoroda. 

2. All that is material ii> this world, we can not know 
the true nature thereof. Only the spiritual that is within 
us is fully known to us, namely that of which we are con- 
scious, and which does not depend upon our feelings or our 
thoughts. 

3. There are no limits, there can be no limits to the 
world in any direction. No matter how distant a thing* 
may be, behind the most distant there are other objects still 
more distant. The same is true of time: back of thousands 
of years that have passed, there had been thousands and 
thousands of previous years. And therefore it is clear 
that man can not possibly grasp what the material world 
is to-day, what it has been nor what it will be* 

What then can man understand? Only one thing, for 
which there is no need of either space or time, namely his 
soul. 

4. Men frequently think that only that exists which 
they can touch with their hands. However, quite on the 
contrary, only that truly is that can not be seen, heard or 
touched, what we call "I," our soul. 

5. Confucius said : The sky and the earth are great, 
but they have color, shape and size. But there is something 
in man that can think of everything and has no color, shape 
or size. Thus if the whole world were dead that which is 
within man could of itself give life to the world. 

6. Iron is more solid than stone, stone is more solid 



48 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

than wood, wood is more solid than water, water is more 
solid than air. But that which can hot be touched, heard 
or seen is more solid than anything. One thing has always 
been, is now and will never be lost. 

What is it? 

It is the soul in man. 

7. It is well for man to think what he is as regards 
his body. This body is large as compared with that of the 
flea, insignificant compared with the earth. It is also well 
to think that our own earth is a grain of sand compared 
with the sun, and the sun as a grain of sand compared with 
Sirius, and Sirius is as nothing compared with still other 
stars, and so without end. 

It is clear that man with his body is nothing compared 
with the sun and the stars. And to think that we were 
not even thought of a hundred, a thousand, many thousands 
of years ago, but other men like unto us were still born, 
grew up and died, that of the millions and millions of men 
such as I nothing remains, neither bones, nor even the dust 
of bones, and that after me millions and millions of people 
will live, and that grass will grow from my bones, and that 
sheep will feed on the grass, and men will eat the sheep, 
and nothing will remain of me, not a grain of dust, nor even 
a memory! Is it not clear that I am nothing? 

Nothing, indeed, but this nothing has a conception of 
itself and of its place in the universe. And if it has such a 
conception, this conception is far from nothing, it is some- 
thing that is more important than the entire universe, for 
without this conception within me and within other crea- 
tures like me, that which I call the infinite universe would , 
not exist. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 49 

IV. 

The Spiritual and the Material Principles in Man 

1. What are you? A man. What sort of man? 
W^herein do you differ from others ? I am the son of such 
and such parents, 1 am old, or young, rich or poor. 

Each one of us is a specific individual, different from 
all other people : man, woman, adult, boy or girl ; and in 
each one of these specific individuals dwells a spiritual be- 
ing, the same in all of us, so that each one of us is at one 
and the same time an individual, John or Natalie, and a 
spiritual being which is the same in all. And when we say : 
"I will," it means that John or Natalie will, or sometimes 
it may mean that the spiritual being, which is the same in 
all of us, wills something. And thus it may happen that 
John and Natalie desire one thing, and the spiritual crea- 
ture that dwells within them does not desire that same 
thing at all, but wills something entirely different. 

2. Someone nears the door. I inquire : "Who is 
there?" The answer is: "It is I." "What I?" "I who 
came," is the answer, and a peasant boy enters. He is sur- 
prised that anyone should inquire who is meant by "I." He 
is surprised because he feels within himself that one spiri- 
tual being which is one in us all, and wonders why I should 
inquire about something which should be clear to everybody. 
His answer refers to the spiritual "I," but my question re- 
ferred to the little window through which that "I" peeps 
out into the world. 

3. Some say that what we call our self is merely the 
body, that my reason, my soul and my love, all of these 
come from the body; we might with as much right assert 
that what we call our body is merely the food by which 
the body is nourished. It is true that my body is merely 
the transformed food that has been assimilated by my body, 



50 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

and that there would be no body without food, but my body 
is not the food. Food is requisite for the life of the body, 
but it is not the body. 

The same is true of the soul. It is true that without 
the body there would be no soul, yet my soul is not the 
body. The body is merely requisite for the soul, but the 
body is not the soul. If it were not for the soul, I should 
not know about my body. 

The principle of life is not in the body, but in the soul. 

4. When we say : "It was, or it will be, or it may be," 
we speak of bodily life. But besides the bodily life which 
was and will be, we know of another life, the spiritual life. 
And the spiritual life is not something that was, or that will 
be, but something that is right now. This is the real life. 
Happy is the man who lives this life of the spirit, and not 
the life of the body. 

5. Christ teaches man that there is something within 
him that raises him above this life with its vanities, fears 
and passions. The man who has received the doctrine of 
Christ shares the experience of the bird that has lived in 
ignorance of his wings, and suddenly realizes that it has 
them, and that it may soar, be free and fear nothing. 

V. 

Conscience is the Voice of the Soul 

1. In each man dwell two creatures: one blind and 
carnal, and the other seeing and spiritual. The first, the 
blind creature, eats, drinks, labors, rests, multiplies and per- 
forms its functions like clockwork. The other, the seeing, 
the spiritual creature, does nothing of itself, but merely 
approves or disapproves what the blind, the animal creature 
is doing. 

The seeing, the spiritual part of man we call conscience. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 51 

This spiritual part of man. or conscience, acts like the com- 
pass needle. The compass needle moves only when he who 
is carrying it strays from the path pointed out by the needle. 
It is the same with the conscience : it is silent as long as the 
man is doing what is right. 

But the moment he strays from the right path, con- 
science shows him where and how far he had erred. 

2. When we hear that a man has committed an evil 
deed, we say that he has no conscience. 

What is then the conscience? 

It is the voice of that one spiritual being that dwells 
in all of us. 

3. Conscience is the consciousness of the spiritual be- 
ing that dwells in all men. And only when it is such con- 
sciousness is it the true guide of human life. Otherwise 
what people call conscience is not the realization of that 
spiritual being, but the recognition of what men among 
whom we live consider good or evil. 

4. The voice of the passions may be louder than the 
voice of the conscience. But the voice of the passions is 
very different from the calm voice of the conscience. And 
yet no matter how loudly the passions roar, they subside 
before the still, calm, persistent voice of the conscience. 
For it is the voice of the Eternal, the Divine that dwells 
in man. Channing. 

5. Kant, the philosopher, remarked that two things 
excited his wonder above all others : first the stars in the 
heavens, and second the law of goodness in the soul of man. 

6. The genuine good is in your own self, in your soul. 
He who seeks good without himself is like the shepherd 
seeking among his herd that lamb which he has sheltered in 
his own bosom. Hindu wisdom. 



52 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

VI. 

The Divinity of the Soul 

1. The first consciousness that awakes in man is that 
of being apart from all other material things, or the con- 
sciousness of his body. Then the consciousness of that 
which is thus separated, or the consciousness of his soul, 
and finally the consciousness of that from which this spiri- 
tual foundation of life is set apart, the consciousness of 
All— of God. 

And that something which is conscious of having been 
severed from All, from God, is the one spiritual being that 
dwells in every man. 

2. To be conscious of self as a separate being is to be 
conscious of the existence of that from which one has been 
separated, to be conscious of the existence of All — of God. 

3. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my 
word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting 
life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed 
from death unto life. 

Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and 
now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of 
God: and they that hear shall live. 

For as the Father hath life in himself ; so hath he given 
to the Son to have life in himself. John, v 24-26. 

4. A drop of water entering the ocean becomes the 
ocean. The soul uniting with God becomes God. 

Angelas. 

5. When a truth is uttered by man it does not mean 
that the truth came forth from the man. All truth is from 
God. It merely passes through man. If it passes through 
one man instead of another it is merely because one has 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE S3 

succeeded in making himself so transparent that the truth 
can pass through him. Pascal. 

6. God says : "I was a treasure unknown to anyone. 
I desired to be known, and I created man." Mohammed. 

7. God can not be comprehended by reason. We know 
that He is, only because we are conscious of Him within, 
and not because we recognize Him with our minds. 

In order to be a true man, man must be conscious of 
God within. 

To ask: "Is there a God?" is like asking: "Do I exist?" 
That whereby I live is God. 

8. The body is the food of the soul, it is like the scaf- 
folding used in erecting the structure of true life. 

The greatest joy a man may know is the joy of realiz- 
ing the existence within himself of a free, rational, loving 
and therefore happy being, in other words the consciousness 
of God within. 

9. If a man does not know himself, it is useless to 
counsei him to endeavor to know God. This advice may be 
given only to such a man as knows himself. Before a man 
may know God, he must know himself. 

10. If I melt in God's crucible, He will impress His 
image upon me. Angelas. 

11. The soul is a glass, God is the Light that passes 
through the glass. 

12. Do not think: it is I that live. It is not I that 
live, but that spiritual being that dwelleth in me. I am only 
the opening through which this creature appears. 

13. There is only I and Thou. If it were not for us 
two, there would be nothing in this world. Angelus. 



54 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

14. I know God not when I believe what is said about 
Him, but when I am as conscious of Him as I am of my 
own soul. 

15. I am to God — another He. He finds in me that 
which for all eternity remain similar to Him. 

16. It is as though man heard always a voice behind 
him, but had no power to turn his head and to behold him 
who speaks. This voice speaks in all tongues and guides 
all men, but no man has ever discovered him who speaks. 
If only man obeyed this voice to the letter and accepted it 
so as to keep himself apart from it even in thought, he 
would feel that this voice and himself are one. And the 
more a man considers this voice as his own self, the better 
will be his life. This voice will open up to him a life of 
blessedness, because this voice is the voice of God in man. 

Emerson. 

17. God desires good to all, therefore if you desire 
good to all, in other words if you love, God lives within you. 

18. Man, do not remain man. Become God, only then 
will you make of yourself what you ought. Angelus. 

19. Some say: Save your soul. Only that can be 
saved which can perish. The soul can not perish, for it is 
the only thing that exists. The soul must not be saved, but 
purified from what defiles it and illuminated from what be- 
nights it, so that God may pass more and more freely 
through it. 

20. Some say: "Have you forgotten God?" This is 
a good question. To forget God is to forget Him who lives 
within you, and by whom you live. 

21. As I need God, so God needs me. Angelus. 

22. If you grow weak and it goes hard with you, re- 
member that you have a soul and that you can live in it. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 55 

But we imagine instead that other men like unto ourselves 
can sustain us. Emerson. 

23. You can escape from the most difficult situation 
the moment you realize that you live not with your body, 
but with your soul, and remember that there is that within 
you which- is more powerful than anything in the world. 

24. He who is united with God, can not be afraid of 
God. God can not do injury to Himself. 

25. Man may ask himself at any time : "What am I ? 
What am I doing ? What am I thinking ? What am I feel- 
ing at this moment ?" And he can immediately reply to 
himself : "I am doing, thinking, feeling this or that at the 
present time." But if man ask himself: "What is that 
within me that is conscious of what I am doing, thinking 
or feeling?", his only answer can be that it is the con- 
sciousness of self. This consciousness of self is what we 
call the soul. 

26. The fish dwelling in a river heard once that people 
maintained that fish could live only in the water. And the 
fish were much surprised and began to inquire among them- 
selves, asking, "What is water?" 

One of the wise fish replied : "They say that there is a 
very wise old fish in the sea, let us swim to him and ask 
him what is water." And the fish swam out to sea, to where 
the wise old fish was living, and asked him : "What is 
water?" And the wise old fish answered: "Water is that 
wherein and whereby we live. The reason you do not know 
water is that you live in it and by it." Even so it seems 
to people at times that they do not know what is God, and 
yet they live in Him. $ u fi 



56 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

VII. 

The Life of Man is Not in the Body But in the Soul, Not 

in the Body and in the Soul, But in the 

Soul Alone 

But he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world 
those things which I have heard of Him. 

They understood not that he spake to them of the 
Father. 

Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the 
Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do 
nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I 
speak these things. John, viii, 26-28. 

To lift up the Son of man is to recognize in our self 
the spirit that dwells in us and to lift it up above the body. 

2. The soul and the body, these two are what man calls 
his own, the subjects of his perpetual care. But you must 
know that the true self is not your body, but your soul. 
Remember this, raise your soul above all flesh, preserve 
it from the filth of life, do not allow the flesh to suppress 
it. Then you will lead a good life. Marcus Aurelius. 

3. Some say that one must not love oneself. Without 
loving oneself, there would be no life. The main issue is 
what to love in oneself; the soul or the body? 

4. There is no body so strong and healthy that it does 
not ail sometimes. There are no riches that can not be lost. 
There is no power that will not cease. All of these things 
are unstable. If a man puts the aim of his life upon being 
strong, rich, influential, even though he attain what he 
strives for, still will he have anxieties, fears and griefs, for 
he will see that all the things upon which he built his life 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 57 

must leave him, and he will see himself gradually growing 
older and nearing dissolution. 

What to do then, to avoid fears and anxieties ? 

There is only one remedy : to build your life not upon 
things that are fleeting, but upon things that will not perish, 
upon the spirit that lives in man. 

5. Do what your body asks of you: seek after glory, 
honors and wealth, and your life will be hell. Do what 
the spirit within you asks : seek after lowliness, mercy and 
love and you will not need any paradise. Paradise will be 
in your soul. 

6. There are duties to one's neighbors, and there are 
duties that every man owes to himself, to the spirit that 
lives within him. This duty is not to defile it, not to destroy 
it, not to suppress this spirit, and to cultivate is unceasingly. 

7. In wordly matters you are never sure whether to 
do what you are doing or to forbear, never certain of the 
outcome of what you undertake. It is different if you live 
for your soul. If you live for your soul, you will assuredly 
know what to do, namely that which the soul demands, and 
you will assuredly know that good will come out of what 
you are doing. 

8. The moment you feel the rise of passions, whims, 
fear or malice, remember who you are ; remember that you 
are not the body, but the soul, and that which has agitated 
you will at once subside. 

9. All our troubles are due to the fact that we forget 
that which dwells within us, and that we sell our soul for 
the mess of pottage of carnal joys. 



58 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

10. In order to see the true light such as it is, you must 
become a true light yourself. Angelas. 

VIII. 

The True Blessedness of Man is Spiritual Blessedness 

1. Man lives by the spirit and not by his body. If a 
man knows this and lays out his life in the spirit and not 
in the body, though you put him in chains and confine him 
behind iron bars, still will he be free. 

2. Every man knows two lives in his experience; that 
of the body and that of the spirit. The life of the body, 
no sooner than it reaches fullness, begins to grow feeble. 
And it grows more and more so until it reaches dissolution. 
The life of the spirit, on the other hand, from the day of 
birth until the moment of death constantly develops and 
gathers strength. 

If a man live the life of the body, his entire life is like 
the life of a man sentenced to death. But if a man live for 
his soul, that whereon he bases his happiness gathers 
strength every day of his life, and death has no terrors 
for him. 

In order to lead a good life it is not necessary to know 
where you come from or what will be in the world to come. 
Think only of that which your soul, and not your body, de- 
sires, and you will not need to know where you come from 
or what will be after death. You will not need to know 
these things, for you will have the experience of that per- 
fect blessedness for which no questions of the past and of 
the future exist. 

4. When the world came into existence, reason became 
its mother. He who realizes that the basis of his life is 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 59 

the spirit, knows that be is beyond all peril. When he 
closes his lips and locks the portals of his senses at the end 
of life, he will feel no anxiety. Lao-Tse. 

5. An immortal soul requires a task as immortal as 
itself. And just such a task is assigned to it : endless striv- 
ing after perfection of self and of the world. 



THERE IS ONE SOUL IN ALL 



THERE IS ONE SOUL IN ALL 

All living creatures are separated one from another in 
their bodies, but that which gives them life is one and the 
same in all of them. 

I. 

The Consciousness of the Divinity of the Soul 
Unites All Men 

1. The doctrine of Christ reveals to men that one and 
the same spiritual principle dwells in them all, and that they 
are all brothers, and it unites them thus for a life of happy 
communion. Lamenais. 

2. It is not enough to say that the same kind of a soul 
lives in every man as И me : it is the same soul that dwells 
in every man and in me. All human beings are separated 
one from another by their individual bodies, but they are 
all joined through the same spiritual principle which gives 
life to everyone. 

3. To be associated with people is a great blessing, 
but how to be united with all ? Supposing I unite with my 
relatives, how about the rest of the people? Supposing I 
unite with all friends, all Russians, all co-religionists. How 
about people whom I do not know, men of other national- 
ities and religions ? There are so many men, and they differ 
so much. What I am to do ? 

There is only one remedy, to forget about people, not 
to worry how to be one with them, but to strive to be one 
with that one spiritual being that dwells in me and in all 
men. 

4. When I think of those millions upon millions of 
beings living the same life as I, many thousands of miles 
away, people whom I shall never know, and who know 



64 THE PATHWAY GF LIFE 

nothing about me, I involuntarily ask myself : Is there 
really no tie between us that binds us, shall we die without 
knowing one another? This can not be. 

Indeed, this can not be. Strange as it may seem, I 
feel, I know that there is a tie between myself and all the 
people in the world, living or dead. 

What that tie is I can neither understand nor explain, 
but I know that it exists. 

5. I remember that someone told me that there is in 
every man much that is very good and humane, and also 
much that is very evil and malicious, and according to his 
disposition, now this, now the other is manifested. This 
is perfectly correct. 

The sight of suffering evokes not only in different peo- 
ple, but sometimes in the same individual the most contra- 
dictory sentiments : sometimes compassion, sometimes some- 
thing akin to pleasure which may assume the proportions 
of even malicious joy. 

I have noticed in my own self that I have sometimes 
regarded all creatures with genuine compassion, sometimes 
with the most thorough indifference, and occasionally with 
hatred and even with malice. 

This clearly shows that there are within us two dif- 
ferent and directly contradictory methods of consciousness. 
One, when we are conscious of being individual beings, 
when all other creatures seem to be utterly alien, when they 
all are something else and not I. Then we can feel nothing 
towards them but indifference, envy, hatred or malice. And 
the other method of consciousness — is the consciousness of 
oneness with them. With this method of consciousness all 
creatures seem to us the same thing as our own "I" and 
therefore their sight elicits our love. The first method of 
consciousness separates us as an insurmountable wall, the 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 65 

other removes the partition and we are fused into one. The 
first method teaches us to acknowledge that all other crea- 
tures are something other than I, and the other teaches us 
that all creatures are the same "I" that I recognize within 
myself. Schopenhauer. 

6. The more a man lives for the soul the better he 
realizes his oneness with all living creatures. Live for the 
body, and you are alone among strangers ; live for the soul, 
and all the world is your kin. 

7. A river does not resemble a pool, a pool does not 
resemble a barrel, a barrel does not resemble a cup of 
water. But the same water is found in the river, in the 
pool, in the barrel and in the cup. Likewise all men vary, 
but the spirit that lives within them is one and the same. 

8. Man understands the meaning of life only when 
he sees himself in every man. 

9. Enter into conversation with any man, look search- 
ingly into his eyes, and you will feel that you are akin to 
him, you will imagine you had known him somewhere in 
the past. Why is it so? Because that by which you live 
is the same in you and in him. 

10. In every man dwells that spirit than which there 
is nothing higher in the world, and therefore no matter 
what a man may be : statesman or convict, prelate or 
pauper, they are all equal, for in every one of them dwells 
that which is above all other things in the world. To 
value and esteem a nobleman above a pauper is like 
valuing and esteeming one gold coin more than another be- 
cause one is wrapped in white and another in black paper. 
Always remember that the same soul dwells in one man 
as in yourself, and therefore all men must be treated alike, 
carefully and respectfully. 



66 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

11. The principal thing in the doctrine of Christ is 
that He acknowledged all men to be brothers. In every 
man he saw a brother and therefore he loved every one, 
no matter who or what he was. He looked upon the in- 
side, not the outside. He did not look upon the body, but 
saw the immortal soul through the garments of the rich, 
and through the rags of the beggar. In the most depraved 
of men He saw something which could transform this 
fallen man into the greatest saint, as great and as holy as 
He was Himself. Channing. 

12. Children are wiser than adults. The child does 
not make any distinction about the social status of people, 
but feels with his whole soul that in every man lives some- 
thing which is one and the same in him and in all other 
people. 

13. If a man does not see in every neighbor the same 
spirit which unites him with all the rest of the people in 
the world, he lives as in a dream. Only he is awake and 
lives truly who sees himself and God in his neighbor. 

II. 

One and the Same Spiritual Principle Lives Not Only in 
All Men, But in All Living Creatures 

1. We feel in our heart that the thing by which we 
live, what we call our true "I" is the same not only in every 
man, but also in the dog, in the horse, in the mouse, in the 
hen, in the sparrow, in the bee, and even in a plant. 

2. If we say that birds, horses, dogs and monkeys 
are entirely alien to us, we might equally reasonably assert 
that all savage, black and yellow people are alien to us. 
And if we consider them aliens, the black and the yellow 
people may equally reasonably consider us aliens. Who 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 67 

then is our neighbor? To this there is but one answer: do 
not ask who is your neighbor, but do unto every creature 
what you desire to have done unto you. 

3. All that is living abhors pain, all that is living 
abhors death : recognize yourself not only in man, but in 
every living creature, do not slay, do not cause suffering 
and death. 

All that is living desires the same things as you : rec- 
ognize yourself in every living creature. 

Buddhist Wisdom. 

4. Man is higher than animals not because he can 
torture them, but because he is capable of having compas- 
sion with them, and man has compassion with animals be- 
cause he feels that in them dwells the same thing that dwells 
in him also. 

5. Compassion with living things is most essential to 
any man who would advance in virtue. He who is com- 
passionate will not injure nor offend, and he will freely 
forgive. A good man can not be lacking in compassion. 
And if a man be unjust and mean, such a man will surely 
be lacking in compassion. Without compassion towards 
all that is living, virtue is impossible. Schopenhauer. 

6. It is possible to lose by degrees that compassion to 
living creatures which is natural to all men. It is partic- 
ularly noticeable in hunting. Otherwise kindly people grow 
accustomed to the chase and learn to torture and kill animals 
without noticing their own cruelty. 

7. "Thou shalt not slay" — does not mean man alone, 
but all that is living. This commandment was inscribed 
in the heart of man before being graven on the tablets of 
the law. 



68 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

8. Men think it right to eat animals, because they are 
led to believe that God sanctions it. This is untrue. No 
matter in what books it may be written that it is not sinful 
to slay animals and to eat them, it is more clearly written 
in the heart of man than in any books that animals are to 
be pitied and should not be slain any more than human 
beings. We all know this if we do not choke the voice 
of our conscience. 

9. If only all men who eat animals had to slay them 
in person, the greater portion of human beings would re- 
frain from eating meat. 

10. We marvel that there should have been men, that 
there still should be men who slay human beings in order 
to eat their flesh. The time will come when our grand- 
children will marvel that their grandfathers had been in 
the habit of killing millions of animals every day in order 
to eat them, although they could satisfy their hunger both 
wholesomely and pleasantly with the fruits of the earth 
and without killing. 

11. It is possible to lose little by little the habit of 
compassion even with human beings, and it is also possi- 
ble to accustom oneself to have compassion even with 
insects. 

The more compassion fills the heart of man, the better 
it is for his soul. 

12. We are all vividly conscious of the fact that there 
is some one, identical thing in all of us human beings, but 
that this same thing is also in animals we realize less vividly. 
Yet if we give a little thought to the life of even these 
little creatures, we cannot help but realize that the same 
principle dwells in them also. 

13. "But surely we can slay flies or fleas"? "Un- 
wittingly we slay with each movement creatures whom we 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 69 

even cannot notice in ordinary life." This is commonly 
said by those who seek to find excuses for the cruelty of 
men to animals. Those who speak thus forget that man 
cannot attain perfection. Even so in the matter of com- 
passion with animals. We cannot live without destroying 
other creatures, but we can be more or less compassionate. 
The more compassionate we are with animals, the better 
it will be for our own souls. 



III. 

The Better a Man's Life the More Clearly He Realizes 

the Oneness of the Divine Principle that 

Dwells Within Him 

1. It seems to people that they are all separated one 
from another. Yet if every man lived only his life apart 
from the others, human life could not continue. Human 
life is only possible because it is one and the same spirit 
of God that lives in all men and because they realize it. 

2. Others think that only they live truly, and that they 
are everything, and that all others are as nothing. There 
are many such people. But there are also reasonable and 
good men who realize that the life of others, even of 
animals, is in itself as important as their own. Such men 
do not live in their "I" alone, but also in other beings, 
human and animal. It is easy for such men to live, and it 
is easy to die. When they die, only that passes away 
whereby had lived in themselves; that whereby they lived 
in others remains. Those, however, who live in their own 
self alone, have a narrow life and a grievous death, for 
when they come to die, such people think that all whereby 
they lived is passing away. Schopenhauer. 

3. Remember that the same spirit dwells in every man 



70 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

as in your own self, and for this reason venerate as a holy 
thing not only your own soul, but also the soul of every man. 

4. Why do we feel blest in our soul after all works 
of love ? Because all works of love demonstrate to us that 
our true self is not only within our own personality, but 
also in all things living. 

If you live for yourself alone, you live with only a 
minute particle of your true self. But if you live for others 
you feel that your "I" is expanding. 

Living for self alone, you will feel yourself among 
enemies, you will feel that the happiness of others obstructs 
your own happiness. If you live for others, you will feel 
among friends, and the happiness of everybody else will 
be your own happiness. Schopenhauer. 

5. Man finds his happiness only in serving others. 
And he finds happiness in serving others because in serv- 
ing others he unites with the spirit of God that dwells 
within them. 

6. That divine spirit whereby we live becomes fully 
comprehensible to us only if we love our neighbor. 

7. All truly good works, in which man forgets him- 
self and thinks solely of the needs of another are wonderful 
and would be incomprehensible, if they were not so natural 
and habitual to us. Why, indeed, should a man deprive 
himself of anything, worry and struggle for some other 
human being whom he may not know, while there are so 
many such people in the world? It can be explained only 
in this way, that he who benefits another knows that he 
whom he benefits is not a being separate from himself, but 
the same being by which he himself lives, only in an- 
other form. Schopenhauer. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 71 

8. All that we know we perceive either through our 
five senses, that is we see, hear or touch things, or by 
transporting ourselves into other creatures, that is, living 
their life. If we were to perceive things only through 
our five senses, the world would be incomprehensible to us. 
What we know of the world we know because through 
love we can enter into other creatures and live their lives. 
People are separated by their bodies and cannot under- 
stand one another. But love unites them all. And therein 
is great blessedness. 

9. If you live the life of the spirit all disunion among 
men causes you spiritual suffering. Why this suffering? 
Just as bodily pain points to a danger menacing the life 
of the body, even so spiritual suffering points to a danger 
menacing the spiritual life of man. 

10. An Indian philosopher remarked: "In you and 
in me, as well as in all creatures, dwells the identical spirit 
of life, and yet you are angry with me, you do not love 
me. Remember that you and I are one. Whatever you 
are, you and I are one." 

11. No matter how evil, unjust, stupid, or disagree- 
able a man may be, remember that in. ceasing to respect 
him you break connection not only with him alone, but 
also with the entire spiritual world. 

12. In order to live at peace with all men think of the 
common bond uniting you, and not of that which sepa- 
rates you from them. 

13. It is considered a great and an unpardonable sin 
to treat with indignity objects of the external worship of 
men, but it is not considered a sin to treat human beings 
with indignity. And yet in the most depraved man there 
dwells something far superior to any objects of external 
worship, which are only the work of human hands. 



72 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

14. It is easy to bear sorrows that are not caused by 
people, but by disease, conflagration, inundation or earth- 
quake. But it is very painful to suffer by reason of the 
acts of people, one's brothers. We know that people ought 
to love us, but instead of that they torture us. "All people 
are the same as I. Why do they cause me pain?" We 
think. For this reason it is easier to bear sorrows from 
illness, conflagrations, drouths than those caused by human 
unkindness. 

IV. 

Effects of Realizing the Oneness of the Soul in 
All Human Beings 

1. Do we realize our spiritual brotherhood? Do we 
realize that one and the same divine principle exists in the 
souls of all men as in our own? No, we do not yet 
realize it. And yet this is the one thing that can give us 
true liberty and happiness. Liberty and happiness cannot 
be until men realize their oneness. And yet if men were 
to recognize this basic truth of Christianity, the oneness 
of the spiritual principle in man, the whole life of man 
would be changed and such relations would be established 
among men as we cannot even imagine at the present time. 
Insults, abuse and oppression which we inflict upon our 
fellow men would arouse our indignation more than do 
the greatest crimes of the present day. Yes, we need a 
new revelation, not of heaven and hell, but of the spirit 
that dwells within us. Channing. 

2. If man sought to distinguish himself from others 
by attaining wealth, honors or offices, he would be dis- 
satisfied, no matter how he magnified himself, nor would 
he ever be serene and happy. But if he realized that the 
same divine principle lives within him as in all other men, 



THE PATfflVAY OF LIFE 73 

he would immediately attain peace and happiness, no matter 
in what state he might be, for he would realize that there 
is something within him that is higher than anything else 
in the world. 

3. The longer men live the better they realize that 
their life is only then happy and joyous when they rec- 
ognize their oneness in one and the same spirit that dwells 
in all. 

4. Love provokes love. And it is bound to be so, be- 
cause God awaking within you, awakes Himself also in 
the other man. 

5. When meeting another, no matter how disagree- 
able or repulsive he may seem to you, it is well to remember 
that through him you have the chance of communion with 
that spiritual principle that lives in him, in yourself and 
in the whole world, and therefore, you must not feel 
burdened by this communion, but be grateful for it as a 
blessing. 

6. A branch cut off from the trunk is by this same act 
separated from the tree. Even so a man who quarrels 
with another man separates himself from all mankind. But 
the branch is cut off by the hand of a stranger, while man 
cuts himself off from his neighbor through his own hatred, 
and does not realize that thereby he cuts himself apart from 
all mankind. Marcus Aurelius. 

7. There is no evil deed committed for which only 
he who has committed it is punished. We cannot so hide 
ourselves that the evil within us does not pass into other 
people. Our deeds, good or evil, are like our children. 
They live and act no longer in accordance with our will, 
but of their own accord George Eliot. 



74 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

8. Human life is hard only because men do not know 
that the same soul which dwells within them lives also 
in all people. This accounts for the enmity of men among 
themselves. This accounts for some being rich, others 
poor, some being masters, others laborers; this accounts 
for envy and malice, this accounts for all human suffering. 

9. The body of man craves only its own good, and 
men submit to this deception. And as soon as man lives 
for his body alone, he disagrees with men and with God 
and fails to attain the good which he is seeking after. 



LOVE 






LOVE 

The soul of man, being separated by the body from 
God and from the souls of other creatures, strives to unite 
with that from which it is separated. The soul unites with 
God through a constantly growing consciousness of God 
within and with the souls of other creatures through a con- 
stantly growing manifestation of love. 

I. 

Love Unites Men with God and with Other Creatures 

1. Jesus said to the lawyer: "Thou shalt love the Lord 
thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with 
all thy mind. This is the first and the great command- 
ment." 

And the second is like unto it : "Thou shalt love thy 
neighbor as thyself." Thus spake the lawyer to Christ, and 
Jesus said : "Thou hast answered right, this do (that is, 
love God and thy neighbor) and thou shalt live." 

2. Woe unto you, ye men of the world. There is grief 
and worry over your heads and under your feet, to the right 
of you and to the left of you, and ye are a mystery unto 
yourselves. And such mysteries will ye remain unless ye 
become happy and loving as the children. Only then shall 
ye know Me, and knowing Me ye shall know yourselves, 
and only then shall ye rule yourselves. 

And only then, as ye look out of your soul into the 
world, all things will be a blessing to you, in the world and 
within your own selves. Buddhist wisdom. 

3. Only perfection can be loved. Therefore, in order 
to love one of two things is required ; either to count that 
perfect which is imperfect, or to love perfection, that is 



78 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

God. If we count that perfect which is imperfect, sooner 
or later the error will be revealed, and the love will cease. 
But the love of God, that is of perfection, cannot cease. 

4. God is love; he who dwelleth in love dwelleth in 
God, and God dwelleth in him. No man has ever seen 
God, but if we love one another God dwelleth in us and His 
love is perfected in us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth 
his brother, he is a liar ; for he that loveth not his brother, 
whom he hath seen, how can he love God, whom he hath 
not seen? Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of 
God, and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth 
God, for God is love. ■ Based upon 1 John, IV. 

5. Men can unite truly only in God. In order to unite, 
men need not walk towards one another, but all must go in 
the direction of God. 

If there were an immense temple in which the light 
entered only in the center, from above, then in order to meet 
in that temple all men would have to go towards the light 
in the center thereof. Even so in the world. Let all men 
walk in the direction of God, and eventually they will all 
meet together. 

6. "Beloved, let us love one another; love is of God, 
and he that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He 
that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love," said 
John the Apostle. 

To love all men seems difficult. But all things are diffi- 
cult until you learn how to do them. Men can learn any- 
thing: to sew, to weave, to till the soil, to mow, to forge 
iron, to read and to write. Even so they must learn how to 
love all people. 

And to learn to do this is not difficult, because loving 
one another has been ingrained in our hearts. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 79 

"No man has ever seen God, but if we love one an- 
other, He dwelleth in us." 

And if God is love and dwelleth in us, it is not difficult 
to learn to love. We must only strive to be delivered from 
that which hinders love, to be delivered from that which 
prevents its outward manifestation. And if you only make 
a start, you will soon attain the most important and nec- 
essary of all sciences : how to love people. 

7. There is nothing more joyful than the knowledge 
that people love us. But curiously enough, in order that 
people might love us we need not strive to please them, but 
only to draw nearer to God. Draw nigh to God, give no 
thought to people, and the people will love you. 

8. Do not ask God to unite you. He has made you 
one already by placing His one and the same spirit in you 
all. Only cast off the things which divide you, and you 
will be one. 

9. Man imagines that he wills his own good. But this 
is only seemingly so. It is the indwelling God who wills 
his good. And God wills the good of all men. 

10. He who says that he loves God and loves not his 
neighbor deceives the people. And he who says that he 
loves his neighbor and does not love God, deceives himself. 

11. It is said we must fear God. This is untrue. We 
must love God, not fear him. You can not love what you 
fear. And besides, you can not fear God, because God is 
love. How can we fear love? Do not fear God, but be 
conscious of Him within yourself. And if you are con- 
scious of God within, you will fear nothing in the world. 

12. Some say that the last day will be the day of judg- 
ment, and that the God of goodness will be a God of wrath. 
Yet from a God of blessings nothing can come but what is 
good. 



80 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

Whatever faiths there be, there is only one true faith — 
that God is love. And from love nothing can come but 
good. 

Do not fear whether in this life or after it, nothing 
can be, nothing will be but good: Persian wisdom. 

13. To live a Godly life is to be like unto God. To be 
like unto God, you must fear nothing and desire nothing 
for self. In order to fear nothing and desire nothing for 
self, you need only love. 

Some say, look within, and you will have peace. This 
is not the entire truth. 

Others say: come out of self; strive to forget self and 
seek happiness in pleasures. This also is untrue. This is 
untrue if alone for the reason that pleasures will not elim- 
inate disease. Peace and happiness are neither within us, 
nor outside of us, but are in God, and God is both within 
us and outside of us. 

Love God, and you will find in God that which you 
seek. 

II. 

Just as the Human Body Craves Food and Suffers When 

Deprived of It, so Does the Soul of Man Crave 

Love and Suffers When Deprived of It 

1. All things are drawn to earth and to one another. 
Even so all souls are drawn to God and to one another. 

So that men might live all as one, and not each for 
himself, God revealed to them only that which is needful 
for all, and not that which is needful for each one sep- 
arately. 

And so that men might know what is needful to all 
and for all, He entered their souls, and in their souls mani- 
fested Himself as love. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE £1 

3. The troubles of men do not come from poor har- 
vests, from conflagrations, from evil doers, but only from 
their living their lives apart from one another. And they 
live apart, because they have no faith in that voice of love 
which dwells in them and which draws them together. 

4. As long as man lives the animal life, it seems to 
him that if he is separated from other people, it must be so 
and cannot be otherwise. But as soon as he commences to 
live the life of the spirit, he finds it strange, deplorable and 
even painful to be apart from other people, and he will 
strive to become one with them. And it is love alone that 
makes people one. 

5. Every man knows that he must do those things 
which unite him with people rather than those which sep- 
arate him from them ; he knows it not because any one has 
so commanded him, but because the more he unites with 
people, the better he lives, and, on the contrary, the more 
he separates from them, the worse is his life. 

6. The business of every man's life is to grow better 
and better every year, every month, every day. And the 
better men become, the more closely they unite one with 
another. And the more closely they unite, the better be- 
comes their life. 

7. The more I love a person, the less I feel my sep- 
aratedness from him. It seems as though he is the same 
as I, I the same as he. 

8. If we only firmly held to this rule; to be one with 
people in the things on which we agree, without demand- 
ing their adherence to the things from which they dissent, 
we would be much closer to Christ than those so-called 
Christians who keep themselves aloof from men of other 
religions, demanding their adherence to their own view of 
the truth. 



82 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

9. Love your enemies, and you will have no enemies. 

10. The path to union is as discernible as a plank 
thrown across a puddle. The moment you swerve from 
the path you find yourself in the mire of worldly vanities, 
quarrels and malice. 

III. 

Love is Only then Genuine When It Embraces All 

1. God wanted us to be happy, and for that reason 
endowed us with a longing for happiness, but He wanted 
us to be happy in the aggregate and not as individuals, and 
for that reason He endowed us with a longing for love. For 
this reason men will be happy only when they all love one 
another. 

2. The Roman philosopher Seneca asserted that all 
that is living, all that we see about us, is one body ; even as 
our own hands, feet, stomach and bones, we are all mem- 
bers of one body. We have all been born alike, we all alike 
seek our own good, we all understand that it is better for 
us to help one another, rather than to harm one another. 
The same love to one another has been implanted in our 
hearts. We are like stones joined together in an arch and 
are bound to collapse unless we support one another. 

3. Every man strives to do as much good for himself 
as possible, and the greatest good in the world is to be in 
love and harmony with all people. How then can we attain 
this boon if we feel that we love some people, but do not 
love others ? We must learn to love those whom we do not 
love. Man learns the most difficult tasks, he learns to read 
and write, acquires sciences and crafts. If man only ap- 
plied himself as assiduously to acquiring love as to learning 
various crafts, and sciences, he would soon train himself 
to love all persons, even those who are distasteful to him. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 83 

4. If you realize that love is the most important thing 
in life, you would not on meeting a man debate wherein he 
could be useful to you, but how and wherein you could be 
useful to him. Follow this rule, and you will always suc- 
ceed better than if you took care of yourself alone. 

5. If we love those who attract us, who praise us, who 
do us good, then we love for ourselves, so as to better our- 
selves. Genuine love is when we love not for ourselves, 
seeking no benefit for ourselves, but for those whom we 
love, and when we love not because people are attractive or 
useful to us, but because we acknowledge in every being 
that spirit which dwells in us. 

Only when we love in this manner can we love those 
that hate us, our enemies, as Christ taught us to do. 

6. We must respect every man, no matter how miser- 
able or ridiculous he may be. We must remember that in 
every man dwells the same spirit as in us. Even if a man is 
repulsive, both as to body and as to soul, we must think like 
this: 'There must be such odd people in the world, we 
must bear with them." But if we show such people that we 
loathe them, we are in the first instance unjust, and then 
we challenge their bitter animosity. 

Such as he is he cannot alter himself. What else can he 
do but to fight us like a deadly enemy if we show hostility 
to him? We would, indeed, be good to him if he ceased to 
be as he is. But he cannot do this. Therefore, we must be 
good to every man just as he is, not requiring of him to do 
that which he cannot do, not requiring him, in other words, 
to cease to be himself. Schopenhauer. 

7. Endeavor to love him whom you once did not love, 
whom you have condemned, or who may have done you an 
injury. And if you succeed in doing so, you will learn a 



84 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

new joy. Even as a bright light dispelling the darkness, the 
light of love will shine gloriously and joyously in your heart 
once you rid yourself of hatred. 

8. The best of men is he who loves all and does good 
to all without distinction, whether they be good or bad. 

Mohammed. 

9. Why is a disagreement with a fellow man so pain- 
ful, and hatred of a fellow man still more painful? Be- 
cause we all feel that the principle which makes us all hu- 
man beings is the same in all of us, so that when we hate 
others, we are in discord with that which is one in all, we 
are in discord with ourselves. 

10. "I am weary, I am despondent, I am lonely." Who 
told you to separate yourself from all people and to shut 
yourself up in the prison house of your solitary, miserable 
and futile self ? 

11. Act so that you may tell every man : "Do as I do." 

Kant. 

12. Until I see that the principal precept of Christ, to 
love your enemy, is observed, I shall not believe that those 
who call themselves Christians are Christians indeed. 

he s sing. 
IV. 

Only the Soul May Be Truly Loved 

1. Man loves himself. But if in loving himself he 
loves his body, he is in error. Such love will bring him 
nothing but sufferings. Loving himself is only then right 
when man in doing so loves his soul. And the soul is the 
same in all people. Therefore, if a man loves his soul, he 
will also love the souls of other people. 

2. All men crave one thing and work for it unceas- 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 85 

ingly, namely to live well. Therefore, since the earliest 
days and in all places saints and sages have taught their 
fellow men how to live so as to make life good instead 
of evil. And all these saints and sages, in many climes 
and different periods, have taught men one and the same 
doctrine. 

This doctrine is brief and plain. 

It shows that all men live by the same spirit, that all 
men are one and the same, but are separated in this life 
by their bodies, and if they realize that they all live by the 
same spirit, they must all unite in love. And if men do 
not realize this, and live by their separate bodies, they are 
hostile to one another and are unhappy. 

Therefore, the whole doctrine consists in doing the 
things that unite people, and avoiding the things that sepa- 
rate them. It is easy to believe in this doctrine, because 
it has been implanted in the heart of every man. 

3. If a man lives only the life of his body, he imprisons 
himself. Living for the soul opens the door of this prison 
and leads man into the joyful life of freedom that is com- 
mon to all. 

4. The body seeks only its own blessing, though the 
soul be harmed. The soul seeks its own blessing, though 
the body be harmed. This struggle continues until man 
realizes that his life is not in the body, but in the soul, 
and that the body is only the material with which the soul 
must do its work. 

5. If two men start on a journey from Moscow to 
Kieff, no matter how far they are one from the other, even 
if one be close to the gates of Kieff, and the other had 
just left Moscow, eventually they will meet in one place. 
But no matter how close together they be, if one start 



86 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

for Moscow and the other for Kieff, they will be always 
apart. 

Even so with the life of men. The saint, if he lives 
for his soul, and the weakest sinner, if he but live for his 
soul, live for one and the same thing and sooner or later 
the two must meet. But if two men dwell together, and 
one lives for his body, while the other lives for his soul, 
they will inevitably draw further and further apart. 

6. It is hard for people to live without knowing why 
they live. Yet there are people who are so sure that it is 
impossible to know this that they even boast of it. 

But it is not only possible, it is necessary to know why. 
The meaning of life is to make the soul more and more 
independent of the body and to bring it into union with 
the souls of others and with the principle of all — God. 

People think and say that they do not know this only 
because they do not live in accord with the teachings of all 
the wise men of the world, and even with the dictates of 
their own reason and conscience. 

V. 

Love is a Natural Characteristic of Man 

1. It is as natural for a man to love as it is for water 
to flow downward. Oriental wisdom. 

2. A bee obeying the law of its nature must fly, a 
serpent must creep, a fish must swim and a man must love. 
Therefore, if a man instead of loving injures others, he 
acts as unnaturally as a bird that would swim or a fish 
that would fly. 

3. A horse seeks safety from its enemy by the speed 
of its legs. It is unfortunate not when it cannot sing like 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 87 

a bird, but when it has lost that which is natural to it — 
the speed of its legs. 

The most precious possession of a dog is its scent. If 
it loses that, it is unfortunate, but not if it is unable to fly. 

Even so man is not then unfortunate if he is unable 
to overpower a bear or a lion or wicked adversaries, but 
if he loses his most precious gift, his spiritual nature, his 
capacity to love. Feel no regrets if a man die, or lose his 
wealth, if he be without home or estate; none of these 
things belong to man. But grieve if a man lose his truest 
possession, his supreme blessing, — his capacity to love. 

Epictetus. 

4. A girl who was deaf, dumb and blind was taught 
to read and write by the sense of touch; her teacher en- 
deavored to explain to her the meaning of love, and the 
little girl answered : "Yes, I understand, it is that which 
people always feel one towards another." 

5. A Chinese philosopher was asked the meaning of 
science. He replied: "To know people." He was asked 
the meaning of virtue. He replied to love people. 

6. There is only one unerring guide for all the crea- 
tures of the world. This guide is the Universal Spirit 
which impels every creature to do that which it ought to do. 
This spirit commands fhe tree to grow up towards the sun ; 
this same spirit in the flower commands it to pass into 
seed, in the seed commands it to sink into the soil and to 
grow. In man this Spirit commands him to seek union 
with other creatures through love. 

7. A Hindu philosopher said : "As a mother guards 
her only child, nursing it, cherishing it, educating it, so 
thou, Everyman, nurse, cherish and develop within thyself 
that which is the most precious tmng in the world: love 



88 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

to others and to all living creatures.'' All faiths teach 
this: the faith of the Brahmins, of the Jews, of the Budd- 
hists, of the Chinese, of the Christians and of the Moham- 
medans. Therefore the most necessary thing in the world 
is to learn to love. 

8. Among the Chinese there were three sages — Con- 
fucius, Lao-Tse and Mi-Ti, the last of whom is but little 
know to us. Mi-Ti taught that men should be trained to 
respect love alone, and not power, wealth or courage. He 
said: men are trained to esteem wealth and glory above all 
other things and they care only for the attainment of wealth 
and glory, but they should be trained to esteem love above 
all things and to care in their lives for the attainment of 
love for other people, and to use their utmost endeavors 
in order to learn to love. 

No attention was paid to Mi-Ti. Mendse, a disciple 
of Confucius, disagreed with Mi-Ti, saying that one cannot 
live by love alone. And the Chinese listened to Mendse. 
Five hundred years passed, and Christ taught the same doc- 
trine as Mi-Ti. Only he brought it out more strongly and 
clearly. But even now, although they do not dispute the 
teaching of love, the followers of Christ fail to obey his 
teaching. But the time is coming, it is coming soon, when 
men will be unable to avoid obeying this doctrine, because 
it is implanted in the hearts of all men, and failure to obey 
it causes men to suffer increasingly. 

9. A time must come when men will cease to fight, 
battle, put people to death, and when they will love one 
another. This time is bound to come, because the love of 
fellow men, and not their hatred, has been implanted in the 
souls of men. 

Let us then do all within our power to hasten this time. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 89 

VI. 

Love Alone Brings True Blessing 

1. You crave that which is good? You shall attain 
that which you seek, if you but crave that good which is 
good for all. And love alone can yield it. 

2. "He who would save his life shall lose it, he who 
would give his life for the sake of good, shall save it. What 
shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose 
his soul?" So spake Christ, and even so spake 'the pagan 
Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius: "When, О my soul," 
he addressed himself, "wilt thou obtain mastery over my 
body? When wilt thou be delivered from all wordly de- 
sires and sorrows and cease to require that men serve thee 
with life or death? When wilt thou realize that the 
genuine good is always in thy power, that it consists in 
one thing only, namely, love for all people ?" 

3. "He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his 
brother, is in darkness even until now. 

He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there 
is none occasion of stumbling in him. 

But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and 
walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, 
because that darkness has blinded his eyes. . . . Let us 
not love in word, neither in tongue ; but in deed and in truth. 

And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and 
shall assure our hearts before him." i John. 

4. I do not know, and indeed I cannot know, whether 
this or that religious teacher is right, but that the best 
thing I can do is to increase the love within me, this I 
know for a certainty, and can have no doubt on that score. 
I can have no doubt of that because the increase of love 
within me immediately increases my happiness. 



90 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

5. If all men were truly one, that which we under- 
stand to be our own individual life (our life apart from 
others) would not exist as such, because our life is a con- 
tinued striving for a union of that which is disunited. In 
this constantly increasing union of that which is disunited 
is true life and the one true blessing of life. 

6. We find everything, but we cannot find ourselves. 
How strange. Man lives many years in the world and 
cannot observe when he feels best of all. If he only 
chanced to observe this, he would clearly comprehend 
wherein is true happiness. He would clearly comprehend 
that he feels happy only when there is love in his soul 
for others. 

Evidently we little commune with our own self in 
solitude, if we have not found this out. 

We have corrupted our minds and no longer strive 
to learn that which is needful for us. 

If amid the vanities of life we stopped for a season 
to look within our own self, we should discover wherein 
is our true happiness. 

Our body is weak, unclean, mortal, but a treasure is 
concealed in it, the immortal spirit of God. If we but rec- 
ognize this spirit within us, we shall love our fellow man, 
and if we love our fellow man, we shall attain all that our 
heart desires : we shall be happy. Scovoroda. 

7. Only when man realizes how unstable and miser- 
able is the life of the body, will he realize all the blessedness 
that love can yield. 

8. Material blessings and pleasures of all kinds are at- 
tained only at the cost of robbing others. Spiritual benefits 
and the blessing of love, on the other hand, are attained by 
increasing the happines of others. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 91 

9. All our modern improvements, such as railways, 
telegraphs, and all kinds of machinery, may be useful for 
the uniting of people, and therefore for the hastening of 
the Kingdom of God. But the trouble is that men have be- 
come fascinated with these improvements and think that if 
they invent more and more machines they will hasten the 
Kingdom of God. This is as grievous an error as though 
a man were to keep plowing the same tract of land over and 
over again without sowing any seed. In order that all of 
these things be truly useful, men should perfect their soul, 
develop love. Without love, telephones, telegraphs, flying 
machines do not unite people, but on the contrary drive 
them further and further apart. 

10. It is pitiful and absurd to see a man searching for 
something which is hanging from his own back. And it is 
equally pitiful and absurd for man to seek blessing without 
knowing that it consists of the very love which is implanted 
in his own heart. 

Do not look upon the world and the deeds of men, but 
gaze into your own soul, and you will find therein that bless- 
ing which you seek where it is not, you will find love, and 
having found love, you will see that this blessing is so great 
that he who possesses it will not crave anything else. 

Krishna. 

11. When you are disheartened, when you are afraid 
of people, when your life has become a tangle, say to your- 
self : Let me cease to worry as to what will become of me, 
let me love all those with whom I come in contact, and let 
me be content, come what may. Just try to live like this, 
and you will see how all things will right themselves, and 
you will have nothing to fear or to desire. 

12. Do good to your friends, that they may love you 



92 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

still more. Do good to your enemies that they may become 
your friends. Cleobulos. 

13. Just as all the water will escape from a vessel if 
there be a hole in its bottom, so all the joys or love will 
leave the soul of man if it contain hatred, though he hate 
but one person only. 

14. Some say: "What is the sense of doing good to 
others if they render evil for good?" But if you love him 
unto whom you do good, you have already received your re- 
ward in your love to him, and you will receive a still greater 
reward if you bear in love that evil which he renders to you. 

15. If a good deed is performed with some end in view, 
it is no longer a good deed. True love is when you love 
without knowing why or for what purpose. 

16. People frequently think that if they love their fel- 
low men they have acquired merit before God. But the 
contrary is true. If you love your fellow men, you have not 
acquired merit before God, but God has granted you some- 
thing you did not deserve, the supreme blessing of life- 
love. 

17. "We know that we have passed from death unto 
life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his 
brother, abideth in death." 1 John, III, 14. 

18. Yes, the time will come, that very time will come 
soon of which Christ spake longing for it to come, the time 
will come when men will be proud not of having gained by 
force dominion over other men and the fruit of their labors, 
when they will rejoice not in arousing the fear and the envy 
of others, but will be proud of loving all men, and rejoice in 
cherishing that feeling of love which delivers them from all 
evil, in spite of all injuries that may be inflicted upon them 
by others. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 93 

19. There is a parable concerning love: 

There was once a man who never thought or cared for 
self, but always took thought and care for his fellow men. 

And the life of this man was so wondrous that the 
angels marveled at its goodness and rejoiced in it. 

And one of the angels said unto another: "This man 
is holy, and he is not even aware of it. There be few such 
men in the world. Let us ask him how we may serve him, 
what gift he desires that we may bestow upon him." "Let 
it be so," replied the other angel. And one of the angels, 
unseen and inaudible, but very clearly and plainly, said unto 
the saint : "We have seen your life and its saintliness, and 
we would know what gift we may bestow upon you. Tell 
us what you desire — to relieve the needs of all whom you 
see and whom you pity? We can do so. Or would you 
have us grant you such power as to deliver others from pain 
and suffering, so that he with whom you have compassion 
shall not die before his time? This also is in our power. 
Or would you have all people in the world, men, women and 
children, love you ? We can do this too. Only tell us what 
your heart desires?" 

And the saint replied: "None of these things do I 
crave. It is for God to deliver men from his visitations ; 
from need and suffering, from pain and untimely death. 
And as for the love of people, I fear it, I fear that the love 
of the people might tempt me, might impede me in my one 
main concern to increase within myself love towards God 
and towards my fellow man." 

And the angels said: "Yes, indeed, this man is holy 
with true holiness and truly loves God." 

Love gives, but seeks nothing in return. 



SINS, ERRORS AND SUPERSTITIONS 



SINS, ERRORS AND SUPERSTITIONS 

Human life would be an unceasing source of blessings, 
if superstitions, errors and sins did not deprive men of 
the capacity of enjoying these blessings. Sin is an in- 
dulgence of bodily passions; errors are incorrect ideas of 
man's relation to the world; superstitions are false beliefs 
accepted as a religion. 

I. 

True Life is Not in the Body, But in the Spi.it 

1. When the plowman fails to guide the plow properly 
and it slips out of the furrow without picking up that which 
it should pick up, the Russian peasant terms this "sin." It 
is the same in life. Sin is when the man fails to guide his 
body in the right furrow and it slips and misses doing 
what it ought. 

2. In their youth people who do not know the true aim 
of life, which is union through love, see their aim in the 
gratification of their carnal passions. It would not be so 
bad if this delusion remained a mental delusion; but the 
gratification of carnal passions defiles the soul, and the man 
who has defiled his soul through a life of indulgence loses 
the capacity of seeking his happiness in love. It is as 
though a man seeking pure water to drink were to defile 
the cup from which he intended to drink. 

3. You wish to give your body as much pleasure as 
you can. But will your body live long? To care for the 
blessings of the body is like building a house upon ice. 
What joy, what security can there be in such a life? Will 
you not fear that sooner or later the ice will melt? That 
sooner or later you will have to leave your mortal body? 



98 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

Move your house to firm soil, work on that which dieth 
not; improve your soul, free yourself from sins, errors 
and superstitions. , Qr. Scovoroda. 

4. The child is not yet aware of his soul and cannot 
find himself in the predicament of the adult, who hears 
two conflicting voices within, — one saying : "Eat of it your- 
self," and the other "give him to eat who asks;" one says 
"avenge;" the other: "forgive." One says "believe what 
is told you," the other: "think for yourself." 

i The older a man grows the more frequently he hears 
these two conflicting voices, one the voice of the body, 
the other the voice of the spirit. Happy is the man who 
has trained himself to hear the voice of the spirit, and not 
the voice of the body. 

5. Some men base their life on the indulgence of their 
belly, others on sexual lust, some on power, others on 
worldly fame, and they dissipate their energy upon the at- 
tainment of these objects, but one thing, and one only is 
needful, namely to cultivate their soul. 

This alone gives them true happiness, that happiness 
which no one can take away from them. 

6. No man can serve two masters; for either he will 
hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to 
the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and 
mammon. Matthew VI, 24. 

7. You cannot at the same time pay heed to your soul 
and to worldly blessings. If you would have worldly bless- 
ings, give up your soul ; if you would save your soul, give 
up worldly blessings. Otherwise you will only wobble 
between the two, and fail to attain either the one thing or 
the other. 

8. Men would attain freedom by safeguarding their 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 99 

body against anything that might curb it or hinder it from 
carrying out its will. Therein is a grievous error. The 
very safeguards they use to preserve their body from all 
hindrances : wealth, honor, and glory fail to give them the 
freedom they crave, but on the contrary they bind them all 
the more securely. In order to attain greater liberty, men 
build themselves a prison out of their own sins, errors and 
superstitions, and confine themselves therein of their own 
free will. 

9. The purpose of our life in this world is twofold: 
first to bring our soul to a full growth, second to establish 
the Kingdom of Heaven upon earth. Both purposes are 
attained by the same means : by releasing within ourselves 
that light of the spirit which was put into our soul. 

10. The true path is straight and free, and you cannot 
stumble if you walk therein. The moment you feel that 
your feet are enmeshed in the cares of earthly life; know 
by this same token that you have strayed from the true path. 

II. * 

What are Sins? 

1. According to the teachings of the Buddhists there 
are five principal commandments: First, do not wittingly 
slay a living creature ; second, do not appropriate that which 
another person believes to be his ; third, be chaste ; fourth, 
do not speak untruth; fifth, do not stupefy yourself with 
intoxicating drink or fumes. Therefore the Buddhists 
count the following as sins : murder, theft, adultery, drunk- 
enness, lying. 

2. According to the teaching of the Gospels there are 
only two commandments of love: "A lawyer asked him 
a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the 
great commandment in the law?" 



100 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
mind. 

This is the first and great commandment. 
And the second is like unto it, "Thou shalt love thy 
neighbor as thyself." Matthew XXII, 35-39. 

Therefore in accordance with the Christian doctrine 
sin is all that is out of harmony with these two com- 
mandments. 

3. Men are not punished for their sins, but by the 
sins themselves. And this is the severest and the surest 
punishment. 

It may be that a cheat or a bully lives all his life and 
dies in luxury and honors, but this does not mean that he 
has escaped the punishment of his sins. This punishment 
will not be imposed somewhere where nobody has ever 
been or ever will be, but it has been exacted right here. 
Right here is the punishment of man inasmuch as each new 
sin removes him further and further away from true happi- 
ness, which is love, and decreases his joy more and more. 
Even so a drunkard, whether men punish him for drunk- 
enness or not, is always punished by his drunkenness, — 
for in addition to his headaches and woes of sobering up, 
the more he drinks, the more his body and soul deteriorate. 

4. If people imagine that in this life they can be free 
from sin, they are greatly in error. Man may be more 
or less sinful, but he can never be sinless. A living man 
cannot be without sin, because the entire life of man con- 
sists in ridding himself of sin, and only in this deliverance 
from sin is the true blessedness of life. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 101 

III. 

Errors and Superstitions 

1. Man's business in life is to fulfill the will of God. 
The will of God is to have man augment love in his soul 
and to manifest it in the world. What can man do to mani- 
fest love within himself? Just this one thing: eliminate 
everything from within that may hinder its manifestation. 
What hinders the manifestation of love? Sins hinder the 
manifestation of love. 

Thus only one thing is needful for man to fulfill the 
will of God : to rid himself of sins. 

2. To sin is human, to seek excuses for sins is the 
work gf the devil. 

3. While a human being has no reason, he lives like 
an animal, and whether what he does is good or evil, he is 
blameless. But the time comes when he acquires the ca- 
pacity of judging what he ought and what he ought not to 
do. And then it happens that instead of realizing that rea- 
son has been granted him to recognize the things which he 
ought and which he ought not to do, he uses it to find 
excuses for the evil deeds which yield him pleasure, and 
to which he has accustomed himself. 

This is the thing that leads men into the errors and 
superstitions from which the world suffers. 

4. It is bad for a man to think that he is without sin 
and does not need to labor with himself. But it is just 
as bad for him to think that he had been altogether born 
in sin and will die in sins, and therefore, there is no need 
for him to labor with himself. Both delusions are equally 
harmful. 

5. It is bad if man who lives among sinful men fails to 
see his own sins or the sins of others, but still worse is the 



102 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

state of man who sees sins of the people among whom lie 
lives, but fails to perceive his own. 

6. In the early part of a man's life the body alone de- 
velops. And he considers this body to be his own self. Even 
when the consciousness of his soul awakens within him, he 
continues to fulfill the desires of his body, which are con- 
trary to the desires of his soul, and thereby he harms him- 
self, falls into error and sin. But the longer he lives, the 
more loudly speaks his soul, and the further diverge the 
desires of his body and of his soul. And the time comes 
when his body ages, its desires grow less and less, but the 
spiritual "I" grows more and more abundantly. And then 
the men who had been in the habit of serving their body, 
in order not to give up their old habit of life, invent errors 
and superstitions which permit them to keep on sinning. 
But no matter how much men try to protect their body 
from their spiritual "I," the latter always conquers, though 
it be in the last moments of life. 

7. Each mistake, each sin committed for the first time, 
binds you. But at first it binds as lightly as a cobweb. 
When you commit the sin again the cobweb becomes a 
thread, then a rope. Constantly repeated, the sin binds 
you with strong cords and later with chains. , 

Sin is at first a stranger in your soul, then a guest, and 
when you have made a habit of it, it becomes the master. 

8. That condition of soul under which man fails to 
realize the evil nature of his deeds prevails when man in- 
stead of employing his reason to examine his conduct em- 
ploys it to excuse his acts when he falls into errors and the 
superstitions associated therewith. 

9. He who sins for the first time always feels his guilt. 
He who repeats the same sin many times, particularly when 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 103 

people all around him commit the same sins, falls into error 
and ceases to feel his sin. 

10. Young people commencing life enter upon new and 
unknown paths, and find on each side unfamiliar byways — 
smooth, alluring, pleasant. When they swerve into these 
byways at first they seem so pleasant to walk upon, and it 
looks as though one could amble along upon them for a 
long distance and then return at will to the main path, but 
soon they learn that they cannot find their way back and 
they stray further and further to their ruin. 

11. When a man has committed a sin, and realizes that 
he has sinned, there are two ways open to him : one is to 
acknowledge his sin and to try not to repeat it, the other to 
mistrust his conscience and to inquire what people think of 
such a sin, and if people do not condemn it, to continue in 
this sin, without realizing his sinfulness. , 

"They all do it, why should I not do as the rest of the 
people are doing?" 

As soon as a man has entered upon this well beaten 
path, he will fail to notice how far he has strayed from the 
path of good life. 

12. Errors and superstitions surround man on all sides. 
To walk amid these perils is like walking through a swamp, 
constantly sinking and scrambling to safety. 

13. " Errors must come into the world," said Christ. I 
think that the meaning of this saying is that the recognition 
of truth is not in itself sufficient to turn men from evil and 
to draw them towards that which is good. In order that 
the majority of people apprehend the truth, they must be 
brought, because of errors and superstitions, to the ultimate 
degree of delusion and of suffering resulting from delusion. 

14. Sins are of the body, errors come from the thoughts 
of people, and superstition from the distrust of one's reason. 



104 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

15. A well shod man carefully avoids mud, but once 
he has made a misstep and soiled his boots, he takes less 
precautions, and when he sees that they have been badly 
soiled, he boldly walks through the mud, accumulating more 
and more filth with each step. 

Even so a young man, while yet unstained with evil and 
immoral deeds, is careful and avoids all that is evil, but 
after making a mistake or two he begins to reason that no 
matter how careful he is, he is bound to fall, and then he 
takes up all kinds of vices. Do not follow such example. 
Have you defiled yourself ? Purify yourself, and be doubly 
careful. Have you sinned? Repent, and avoid sin all the 
more. 

16. The sins of the body subside with years, but errors 
and superstitions, on the contrary, grow stronger with years. 

IV. 

The Principal Task of a Man's Life is to Rid Himself of 
Sins, Errors and Superstitions 

1. Man rejoices when his body is released from prison. 
How should he not rejoice to be released from the sins, 
errors and superstitions which have held captive his soul ? 

2. Imagine men living their animal life alone, without 
combating their passions, what a terrible life that would be, 
what hatred among people, what dissoluteness, what cru- 
elty ! Only the fact that men know their weaknesses and 
passions and struggle against their sins, errors and super- 
stitions makes it possible for people to dwell together. 

3. The human body confines the spirit that lives in it. 
But the spirit breaks through and becomes more and more 
free. Herein is life. 

4. The life of man, whether he wills it or not, leads him 
further and further towards deliverance from sins. The 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 105 

man who realizes this assists life in this process by his own 
efforts, and the life of such a man is a happy one, because 
it is in accord with that which is being done with him. 

5. Children have not acquired the habit of sin, there- 
fore, all sin is repulsive to them. Grown up people have 
already fallen into error, and they sin without it. 

6. If man does not acknowledge his sins, he is like unto 
a tightly corked bottle; for he cannot receive that which 
would deliver him from sin. To humiliate himself and to 
repent is to uncork the vessel — to become capable of de- 
liverance from sin. 

7. To repent is to realize your sins and to prepare to 
combat them, therefore, it is well to repent while you have 
strength. 

Oil must be added to a lamp while it is yet burning. 

8. Two women came to an hermit for advice. One 
believed herself to be a great sinner. While young, she had 
been unfaithful to her husband, and she never ceased to 
reproach herself because of it. The other had lived all her 
life within the law, found no sin with which to reproach 
herself and was satisfied with herself. 

The hermit questioned both women with regard to their 
life. One confessed her great sin with tears. She con- 
sidered that sin so great that she expected no forgiveness. 
The other said that she did not know any special sin that 
she might have been guilty of. The hermit said to the first 
woman : 

"Go, thou, handmaid of God, behind the wall and find 
me a large stone, as large as you can lift, and bring it to 
me." "And thou," he turned to the other woman, "go thou 
likewise behind the wall and fetch me pebbles, all that thou 
canst carry." 

The women obeyed the commands. One brought a 



106 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

large stone, and the other a bag filled with pebbles. There- 
Lipon the hermit said further; 

"Now I will tell you what to do. Take these same 
stones back again and replace them where you had taken 
them from. And then return to me again." 

And the women hurried to carry out his command. 
The first woman easily found the place where she had taken 
the heavy stone and replaced it where she had found it. But 
the other woman could not by any means surely remember 
where she had picked up the various pebbles, and unable to 
carry out the hermit's command, returned to him. 

"It is even so with sins," said the hermit. "Thou didst 
return the heavy stone on the very spot from which thou 
hadst taken it, because thou knowest where it came from. 
And thou wast not able to do likewise, because thou didst 
not remember whence all the little stones had been taken. 
And even so it is with sins. 

"Thou didst remember thy sin, bearing the reproaches 
of men and the pangs of thy conscience, thou didst humble 
thyself, thus delivering thyself from thy sin and its con- 
sequences. 

"But thou (the hermit turned to the other woman), 
"sinning in a small way, didst not remember the little trans- 
gressions, didst not repent, hast grown used to the life of 
sin, and condemning the sins of others, didst sink even more 
deeply in the mire of thine own sins." 

9. Man is born in sin. All sins come from the body, 
but the spirit within man struggles against the body. And 
the whole life of man is a struggle of the spirit against 
the body. Blessed is the man who finds himself in this 
struggle not on the side of the body (that body which is 
bound to be overcome), but on the side of the spirit which 
is bound to conquer though it be in the last mortal hour. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 107 

10. It is a great error to think that one can find de- 
liverance from sin through faith and the forgiveness of 
people. 

Nothing can absolve from sin. One can only realize 
his sin and strive not to repeat it. 

11. Never be scared of sin; do not say to yourself: 
"I can not help sinning, I am used to it, I am weak." While 
life lasts, you can always fight sin, and if you don't con- 
quer it to-day, you will to-morrow; if not to-morrow, then 
the next day ; if not the next day, surely before death. But 
if you refuse to fight, you shirk the principal task of life. 

12. You cannot compel yourself to love. But if you 
do not love, it does not mean that there is no love in you, 
but that there is something in you that hinders love. You 
may turn or shake a bottle as you will, but if it be corked, 
nothing can be poured from it until you remove the cork. 
It is the same with love. Your soul is filled with love, but 
this love cannot be manifested, because your sins will not 
let it pass. Deliver your soul from that which chokes it, 
and you will love everybody, even those you had considered 
your enemies, and whom you have hated. 

13. Woe to the man who says to himself that he has 
delivered himself from sin. 

14. That is sinless wherein there is no consciousness 
of oneness with God and with all Spirit life. Thus plants 
and animals are free from sin. But man is conscious at 
the same time of animal and of God within, and therefore 
can not be sinless. We call children sinless, but this is an 
error. A child is not free from sin. He has less sins 
than an adult, but he has already his sins of the body. 
Neither is the saintliest man free from sin. He has fewer 
sins, than others, but he has sins nevertheless, for without 
sins there is no life. 



108 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

15. In order to train yourself to combat sin, it is ad- 
visable from time to time to stop doing the things to which 
you are accustomed, in order to learn whether you are 
master of your body, or your body is master over you. 

V. 

The Significance of Sins, Errors, Superstitions and False 
Doctrines for the Manifestation of Spiritual Life 

1. People who believe that God created the world fre- 
quently ask : Why did God so create man that he must sin, 
that he cannot help sinning? It is like asking why God 
created mothers so that they must bear children in pain, 
nurse them and bring them up. Would it not have been 
simpler for God to give infants to mothers all finished, 
without pangs of child-birth, without nursing, care and fear? 
No mother will ask this question, because she loves the 
child for the very pain it cost her, and the joy of her life 
is in nursing, raising and caring for it. 

Even so with human life: sins, errors, superstitions, 
the struggle with them and the overcoming of them, — there- 
in is the meaning and the joy of human life. 

2. It is a heavy burden to man to know about his sins, 
but it is a great joy to feel that you are being delivered 
from them. But for the night, we should not rejoice in 
the light of the sun. But for sins, man would not know 
the joy of righteousness. 

3. If man had no soul, he would not know the sins of 
the body, and if it were not for the sins of the body, he 
would not know that he had a soul. 

4. Since man, a rational creature, has been in this 
world, he has distinguished good from evil, and made use 
of the experience of those who had gone before in distin- 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 109 

guishing good from evil, struggling against evil, seeking 
the true, good path, and slowly, but resolutely progressing 
upon this path. And ever obstructing this path, sins, errors 
and superstitions confronted the people, whispering to them 
that all this is superfluous, that there is no need to seek 
anything, that they are as well off without it, and that they 
should live just as they happen to live. 

5. Sins, errors and superstitions are the soil that must 
cover the seeds of love that they may spring into life. 



SURFEIT 






SURFEIT 

The only true happiness of man is in love. But man 
loses this happiness when instead of developing the love 
within him he developes the appetites of his body by humor- 
ing the same. 

I. 

All that is Superfluous is Harmful to the Body 
and to the Soul 

1. The body must be served only when it demands it. 
But to employ one's reason in inventing pleasures for the 
body is to live inside out: forcing the soul to serve the 
body, instead of the body serving the soul. 

2. The less needs the happier is the life. This is an 
old truth, but one which is far from having been accepted 
by all. 

3. The more you accustom yourself to luxury, the 
more you fall into servitude, because the more things you 
require, the more you curtail your freedom. Perfect free- 
dom is in needing nothing at all, and next to it is needing 
very little. St. John Chrysostom. 

4. There are sins against people, and sins against self. 
Sins against people are due to the failure to respect the 
Spirit of God in oneself. 

5. If you would live the life of peace and liberty, learn 
not to crave that which you can do without. 

6. All that the body needs is easily obtained. Only the 
unnecessary things are difficult to procure. 

7. It is well to have what you desire, but it is still 
better not to desire more than you have. Menedcm. 



114 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

8. If you are well and have labored unto weariness, 
your bread and water will taste sweeter to you than all his 
dainties to a rich man, your bed of straw will feel softer 
than spring mattresses, and working clothes will caress your 
body more smoothly than raiments of velvet and furs. 

9. If you humor your body too much, you are bound 
to weaken it, if you overwork it, you are bound to weaken 
it. But if you must choose one or the other, it is better to 
tire it than to enervate it, because if you sleep or eat in- 
sufficiently, or if you overwork yourself, your body will 
soon remind you of your error. But if you enervate your 
body, it will not remind you of your error at once, but much 
later — through weakness and sickness. 

10. Socrates abstained from all foods that are eaten 
not to appease hunger, but mainly because of their flavor 
and he urged his disciples to do likewise. He said that ex- 
cess of food and drink is harmful not only to the body, 
but also to the soul, and his advice was to leave the table 
while the desire to eat is still present. He reminded his 
disciples of Ulysses of old : Circe, the enchantress, failed 
to bewitch Ulysses only because he refused to overeat, but 
as soon as his comrades devoured her dainties, she turned 
them into swine. 

11. It seems that rich and well-informed men, men 
who call themselves educated, should understand that there 
is no good in gluttony, drunkenness and overdressing; but 
they are just the people who invent dainty foods, intoxicat- 
ing drinks and all sorts of adornments, and in addition their 
example ruins and corrupts the laboring people. 

"If educated people enjoy luxurious living, it must be 
the right thing," say the laborers, and in endeavoring to 
imitate the rich, they ruin their own life. 

12. In these days the majority of the people think that 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 115 

the happiness of life consists in serving the body. It is 
seen from the fact that the most popular doctrine is the 
doctrine of the socialists. According to this doctrine, the 
life of few wants is the life of the beasts, and the growth 
of human wants is the first mark of an educated man, is 
trie sign of his consciousness of human dignity. Men of 
our day so strongly adhere to this doctrine that they ridicule 
those wise men who see the happiness of man in the dimi- 
nution of human needs. 

13. Consider how the slave longs to live. First of all 
he yearns to be set at liberty. He thinks that he cannot 
be free or happy in any other way. He says to himself: 
If I be given my liberty, I shall immediately attain happi- 
ness ; I shall not be compelled to serve and humor my master, 
I could speak to any man as an equal, I could go where I 
pleased without asking any man's leave. 

But no sooner is he given his freedom, he immediately 
seeks to curry favor with somebody, in order to secure 
better food. He is ready to stoop to any indignity for this 
purpose. And establishing himself near some prosperous 
man, he relapses into the slavery from which he had so 
recently desired to escape. 

If such a man prospers, he takes a mistress, and enters 
a state of still more arduous servitude. When he becomes 
wealthy, he has still less liberty. He begins to suffer and 
whine. And in moments when he feels particularly bur- 
dened, he remembers the days of his slavery and says : 

"After all I was not so badly off with my master. I 
had no worries, I was clad, shod and fed; when I was ill, I 
was taken care of. And my service was not so hard. And 
now how much work I have to do. Once I had one master, 
now I have many. How many people must I please now !" 

Epictetits % 



116 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

II. 

The Whims of the Body are Insatiable 

1. To sustain the life of the body, little is needed, but 
the whims of the body have no end. 

2. The needs of the body, of one body alone are easily 
filled. Only in the case of a special calamity man lacks 
raiment to cover his body or a piece of bread to appease 
his hunger. But no power can procure all the things that 
a man may crave. 

3. The unreasoning child cries and weeps until it is 
given what its body craves. But as soon as it is given what 
its body needs, it quiets down and asks no more. Not so 
with adults, if they live the life of the flesh and not of the 
spirit. Such men never quiet down and always want some- 
thing more. 

4. To humor the flesh, to give it superfluous things, 
things in excess of its wants, is a grievous error, because a 
life of luxury lessens rather than increases the enjoyment 
derived from food, recreation, sleep, raiment and home. 
If you eat superfluous dainties, your stomach becomes de- 
ranged, and you lose the craving for food and cannot relish 
it. If you ride where you can walk, if you accustom your- 
self to soft beds, dainty, highly flavored foods, luxurious 
furnishings, if you learn to compel others to do for you 
what you can do yourself, you have no pleasure in resting 
after labor, in warmth after being chilled, you do not know 
sound sleep, and you weaken yourself, you diminish, in- 
stead of increasing, your measure of happiness, peace and 
freedom. 

5. Men ought to learn from animals how to treat their 
body. As soon as the animal has what it needs for its body, 
it is at peace. But man is not satisfied with stilling his 
hunger, sheltering himself from the weather, warming him- 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 117 

self; he invents all sorts of delicate foods and beverages, 
he builds palaces, prepares superfluous raiment, and all 
sorts of useless luxuries, and in the end lives worse instead 
of better. 

III. 

The Sin of Gluttony 

1. If men ate only when hungry, and then only simple, 
clean, wholesome food, they would know no illness, and 
they could resist passions more easily. 

2. The wise man says: Thank God because He has 
made all needful things easy, and all superfluous things 
difficult. This is particularly true of food. Food that man 
requires to be healthy and able to work is simple and cheap : 
bread, fruit, roots, water. All of this is found ewerywhere. 
It is only difficult to prepare all sorts of delicacies: for 
instance ice cream, etc. 

All of these dainties are not only difficult to prepare, 
but are directly harmful. Therefore it is not for those 
healthy men who eat bread and water and porridge to envy 
the ailing rich with their cunningly prepared delicacies, but 
for rich men to envy the poor and to learn to eat as they do. 

3. Few die from hunger. Many more die because they 
eat too daintily and do not labor. 

4. Eat to live, do not live to eat. 

5. "Only a pot of broth, but plenty of health." That's 
a good proverb. Go by it. 

6. If it were not for greed not a bird would be snared 
in a fowler's net, and the fowler would catch no birds. The 
same snare is laid for men. The belly is a chain for the 
hands and the feet. The slave of the belly is always a slave. 
If you would be free, first of all shake off the dominion 
of the belly. Fight against it. Eat only to appease hunger, 
and not to derive pleasure from it. 



118 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

7. What is more profitable : to spend four hours 
weekly on the making of bread, and to feed on it the rest 
of the week, or to spend twenty-one hours each week on 
the preparation of dainty and tasty foods. What is more 
precious : the seventeen hours gained or dainty food ? 

IV. 

The Sin of Eating Meat 

1. The Greek philosopher Pythagoras ate no meat. 
When the historian Plutarch, the biographer of Pythagoras, 
was asked why Pythagoras had abstained from eating meat 
he replied that he did not wonder at Pythagoras abstaining 
from eating meat, but he did wonder that there were still 
people left who though they might feed on grains, herbs 
and fruit, persisted in capturing, butchering and eating liv- 
ing creatures. 

2. In the oldest days philosophers taught the people 
not to eat the flesh of animals, but to feed on herbs ; the 
people, however, paid no attention to the sages and per- 
sisted in eating meat. But in our times the number of 
people who consider it sinful to eat meat, and abstain from 
eating it, is rapidly increasing. 

We are surprised to find people eating the flesh of 
slain humans, and to hear that there are still such cannibals 
left in Africa. The time will come when we shall wonder 
that men could slay animals for food. 

3. For ten years the cow has fed thee and thy children, 
the sheep has warmed thee with its wool. What is their 
reward ? To have their throats cut and to be devoured. 

4. Thou shalt not kill — does not apply only to the 
killing of human beings, but also to the killing of any living 
creature. This commandment was inscribed in the hearts 
of m<;n before it was graven on the tablets on Mount Sinai. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 119 

5. Compassion with animals is so closely associated 
with goodness of character that it may be confidently af- 
firmed that whoever is cruel to animals cannot be a good 
man. Schopeyihaner. 

6. Do not lift your arm against your brother, nor shed 
the blood of any other creatures inhabiting the earth, 
whether they be men or domestic animals, beasts or birds 
of the air ; in the depths of your soul a still voice forbids 
you to shed it, for the blood is the life, and you cannot 
recall life. Lamartine. 

7. The happiness which man derives from feelings of 
compassion and mercy towards animals will make up a 
hundredfold for the pleasure lost through abstinence from 
the chase and from the use of the flesh of animals. 



The Sin of Drugging Oneself with Wine, 
Tobacco, Opium, etc. 

1. In order to live right, man needs before all the 
exercise of his reason, and therefore he should value his 
reason most highly, yet men hnd pleasure in dulling their 
reason with tobacco, wine, whiskey, opium. Why? Be- 
cause men desire to lead an evil life, and their reason, when 
it is not dulled, shows them the wickedness of their life. 

2. If wine, tobacco and opium did not dull the reason, 
and thereby did not give free reign to evil desires, no one 
would drink bitter beverages or inhale fumes. 

3. Why do different people have different habits, but 
the habits of smoking and drunkenness are the same in all 
men. poor or rich? It is because the majority of men are 

their lif isures of the 



120 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

flesh. But the flesh can never be satisfied, and men, both 
poor and rich, seek oblivion in smoking or drunkenness. 

4. A man is proceeding at night with the aid of a 
lantern, and he is barely making headway, he strays and 
recovers the road. But suddenly he grows weary of it, 
blows out the lantern and strays at haphazard. 

Is it not the same when man drugs himself with to- 
bacco, wine or opium? It is difficult to determine your 
path in life, so as not to stray, and to find it again, if per- 
chance you have wandered away from it. And yet people, 
to avoid the trouble of following the true path, extinguish 
the only light that they have, their reason, by smoking and 
drinking. 

5. When a man overeats, he finds it hard to fight 
against laziness, when he imbibes intoxicating drinks, he 
finds it hard to be chaste. 

6. Wine, opium and tobacco, are unnecessary to the 
life of man. Every one knows that wine, tobacco and opium 
are injurious to the body and to the soul. Yet the labor 
of millions of people is wasted to produce these poisons. 
Why do people do this ? Because having fallen into the sin 
of serving their flesh, and seeing that the flesh can never 
be satisfied, they have invented such substances as wine, 
tobacco and opium that stupefy them into forgetting that 
they lack the things they would have. 

7. If a man has set his life upon carnal pleasures, and 
cannot attain all that he desires, he endeavores to delude 
himself: he wishes to place himself into the position of 
imagining that he has that which he craves for ; he stupefies 
himself with tobacco, wine and opium. 

8. Drinking or smoking has never inspired anyone to 
good deeds : labor, meditation, visiting the sick, prayer. But 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 121 

the majority of wicked deeds are committed under the in- 
fluence of drink. 

Self-stupefaction through drugs is not in itself a crime, 
but it is a preparation for all sorts of crimes. 

9. The trinity of curse: drunkenness, meat eating and 
smoking. 

10. It is hard to imagine what a happy change would 
come into our lives, if men ceased to stupefy and poison 
themselves with whiskey, wine, tobacco and opium. 

VI. 

Serving the Flesh is Injurious to the Soul 

1. If one man has much that is superfluous, many 
others lack necesaries. 

2. It is better that the raiment befit the conscience 
than fit the body only. 

3. In order to pamper the flesh, one must neglect his 
soul. 

4. Of two men which is better off": he who nourishes 
himself with his own labor, merely to preserve himself from 
being hungry, clothes himself, merely to avoid being bare, 
houses himself merely to shelter himself from the rain and 
the cold, or he who through flunkeying, or what is more 
usual, through craftiness or force, obtains delicate foods, 
rich raiment and luxurious habitations? 

5. It is inexpedient to accustom yourself to luxury, 
for the more things you need for your body, the more you 
will have to labor with your body, in order better to feed 
it, clothe it and house it. This is an error which only those 
men fail to perceive who by some fraud have arranged it 
so that others labor for them instead of laboring for them- 
selves, so that in the case of the rich this is not merely inex- 
pedient, but also a great wrong. 



122 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

6. If we people had not invented luxurious dwellings, 
apparel and food, all those who are now in need could live 
without want, and those who are rich without fear for them- 
selves or their riches. 

7. Just as the first rule of wisdom is to know oneself, 
because only he who knows himself can also know others, 
so is the first rule of mercy to be content with little, be- 
cause only he who is content with little can be merciful. 

Ruskin. 

8. To live for one's body only is to do like the servant 
who took his master's money, and instead of buying there- 
with things required for his own needs, as his master had 
commanded, wasted it upon the gratification of his foolish 
whims. 

God gave us His spirit so that we may do the works 
of God and for our own good. But we waste this spiiit 
upon the service of our body. Thus we both fail to do the 
works of God and injure our own self. 

9. That it is inexpedient for man to indulge his lusts, 
but expedient always to fight against them, may be deter- 
mined by any one by own experience, for the more a man 
indulges the demands of his body, the feebler become his 
spiritual forces. And vice versa. Great philosophers and 
saints have been always abstemious and chaste. 

10. Just as the smoke expels the bees from the hive, 
gluttony and drunkenness drive away all the finest spiritual 
forces. Basil the Great. 

11. What does it matter if the body suffer a little from 
serving the spirit? but woe if the most precious thing in 
man — his soul — suffer from the passions of the body. 

12. Do not destroy your heart by excess of food and 
drink. Mohammed. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 123 

13. "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be 
also," is said in the New Testament. If a man consider his 
body his treasure, he will employ all his powers to provide 
it with dainty foods, pleasant accommodations, fine apparel 
and all sorts of amusements. And the more strength a man 
expends upon the service of his body, the less he will have 
left for his spiritual life. 

VII. 

He Alone is Free, Who is Master of the Desires 
of His Body 

1. If a man live for his body, and not for his soul, 
he is like some bird that conceives the notion of walking 
from place to place on its feeble feet instead of Ггееіу flying 
wherever it pleased by using its wings. Socrates. 

2. Dainty foods, rich apparel, luxuries of all sorts — 
this is what you call happiness. But I think that to desire 
nothing is the greatest happiness, and in order to approach 
this highest degree of happiness, you must train yourself to 
want little. Socrates. 

3. The less you indulge the body in matters of food, 
clothing, housing and amusement, the freer will be your 
life. And on the contrary, no sooner you begin to try to 
improve your food, clothing, housing and amusement, — there 
is no longer a limit to your labors and cares. 

4. It is better to be poor than rich, because the rich 
are more bound up in sin than the poor. And the sins of 
the rich are more perplexing and entangled, and it is diffi- 
cult to make head or tail of them. The sins of the poor are 
simple, and it is easier to be rid of them. 

5. No one has ever regretted to have lived too plainly. 



124 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

6. The rich are so used to the sin of serving the body 
that they fail to see it as sin, and believing that what they 
do is for the best interest of their children, they train them 
from infancy in the ways of gluttony, luxury and sloth- 
fulness, in other words they corrupt them and store up great 
suffering for them. 

7. What happens with the stomach when you overeat, 
occurs also in matters of amusement. The more men try 
to increase the pleasure of eating by inventing refined foods, 
the more is the stomach enfeebled and the pleasure of eat- 
ing curtailed. The more men try to increase the pleasure 
of merrymaking by inventing elegant and subtle amuse- 
ments the more surely they weaken their capacity for 
genuine enjoyment. 

8. Only the body can suffer; the spirit knows no suf- 
fering. The feebler is the life of the spirit, the greater is 
the suffering. So if you would not suffer, live more in the 
spirit and less for your body. 



£ 



SEXUAL LUSTS 



SEXUAL LUSTS 

In all people, men and women alike, dwells the Spirit 
of God. What a sin it is to look upon the temple of the 
Spirit of God as upon a means of gratification of desire. 
Every woman in relation to man should be first of all a 
sister, and every man to a woman a brother. 

I. 

The Need of Striving After Absolute Chastity 

1. It is well to live in honorable matrimony, but it is 
better never to marry. Few people can do this. But happy 
are they who can. 

2. When people marry, if they can do without marry- 
ing, they act like a man who falls without having stumbled. 
If he stumbled and then fell, he could not help himself, but 
if he had not stumbled, why fall on purpose? If you can 
live chastely, without committing sin, it is better not to 
marry. 

3. It is untrue that chastity is contrary to the nature of 
man. Chastity is possible and yields much more happiness 
than even a happy marriage. 

4. Excess of food is ruinous to good life, but sexual 
excesses are still more ruinous to good living. And there- 
fore, the less a man yields to the one and to the other, the 
better it is for his true spiritual life. But there is a great 
difference between the two. In giving up food altogether 
man destroys his life, but in abstaining from sexual gratifi- 
cation, man does not cut short his life, nor destroy his spe- 
cies which does not depend upon him alone. 

5. He that is unmarried careth for the things that be- 
long to the Lord, how he may please the Lord : 



128 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

But he that is married careth for the things that are of 
the world, how he may please his wife. 

There is a difference also between a wife and a virgin. 
The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, 
that she may be holy both in body and in spirit ; but she that 
is married careth for the things of the world, how she may 
please her husband. 1 Cor., vii, 32-34. 

6. If men marry and think that they thereby serve God 
and man, because they propagate the human species, they 
deceive themselves. Instead of marrying in order to in- 
crease of the number of children in the world, it would be 
far simpler to sustain and save those millions of young lives 
which are perishing from want and neglect. 

7. Although few people may be absoltuely chaste, let 
every one realize and remember that any man can be more 
chaste than he has been, and can resume chastity once vio- 
lated, and the more nearly he approaches to absolute chas- 
tity, the more nearly he will attain the state of true blessed- 
ness, and the better he will be able to serve the welfare 
of his fellow-man. 

7. Some say that if all were chaste the human species 
would cease to exist. But does not the church teach that 
the end of the world is bound to come? And science equally 
shows that some day man's life upon earth, and earth itself, 
must cease; why then does the idea that the end of the 
human species might come as the result of good and right- 
eous living arouse so much indignation? 

8. One scientist figured out that if mankind should 
double itself once every fifty years, in seven thousand years 
so many descendants would spring even from one pair of 
parents that only one twenty-seventh part of them would 
find space on the globe standing shoulder to shoulder. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 129 

To avoid this, one thing alone is needful, and it is af- 
firmed by all wise teachers, as well as implanted in the 
heart of man, chastity, striving after more and more chastity. 

10. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old 
time, Thou shalt not commit adultery : 

But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a 
woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her 
already in his heart. Matthew, v, 27-28. 

These words can mean nothing else but that the doc- 
trine of Christ demands from man that he strive after ob- 
solute chastity. 

"But how can this be?" some may reply. "If you 
cling to absolute chastity, mankind will cease to exist." But 
men who speak thus do not consider that pointing to per- 
fection as a goal towards which we must strive, does not 
mean that we shall reach perfection. It is not given to man 
to attain perfection in anything. The destiny of man is in 
striving after perfection. 

II. 

The Sin of Adultery 

1. An unspoilt man is disgusted and ashamed to think 
or speak of sexual relations. Preserve this feeling. It has 
not been put in the heart of man without cause. This feel- 
ing helps man to abstain from the sin of adultery and to 
maintain his chastity. 

2. People use the same expression when referring to 
the spiritual love — the love of God and of fellow-man. as 
they do referring to the carnal love of a man for a woman. 
This is a grievous error. There is nothing in common be- 



130 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

tween the two. The first, the spiritual love of God and of 
fellow-man, is the voice of God, the second — the love be- 
tween man and woman, is the voice of the animal. 

3. The law of God is to love God and your neighbor, 
that is everybody without distinction. In sexual love man 
loves an individual woman above all others, and the woman 
an individual man, and therefore sexual love more than 
anything else turns man from obeying the law of God. 

III. 
Misery Caused by Sexual Dissoluteness 

1. Until you have destroyed to its very roots your lust- 
ful attachment to a woman, your spirit will always be tied 
to the earthly things as the suckling calf is bound to his 
mother. 

Men caught in the meshes of desire struggle like a hare 
in a trap. Once enmeshed in lustful passion, they will not 
free themselves from suffering for a long time. 

Buddhist Wisdom. 

2. A moth rushes to the flame because it does not real- 
ize that it will burn its wings; a fish swallows the worm 
because it does not know that it means its ruin. But we 
know that lustful passions will surely entrap and ruin us, 
and still we yield to them. 

3. As the fireflies over a swamp lead men astray into 
mire, and are lost to view themselves, even so the delights 
of sexual gratification delude the people. Men go astray, 
their lives are ruined, and when they come to their senses 
and look around, that which has ruined their lives is no 
longer there. Schopenhauer. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 131 

IV. 

Criminal Attitude of Our Leading Men to the 
Sin of Lust 

1. In order to realize fully the immortality, the anti- 
Christian character of the life of Christian people, one need 
only remember that the status of women living by vice is 
everywhere sanctioned and regulated. 

2. Among rich men there exists a false belief, fostered 
by a false science, to the effect that sexual intercourse is a 
condition necessary to health, and as matrimony is not al- 
ways possible, sexual intercourse without marriage, placing 
no obligation on man besides payment of money, is some- 
thing absolutely natural. This conviction is so wide-spread 
and firm that parents on the advice of physicians lead their 
children into vice; and institutions whose only reason for 
existence is to care for the welfare of citizens, permit the 
maintenance of a caste of women whose bodies and souls 
must be ruined for the gratification of dissolute males. 

3. To argue whether it be good or evil for the health 
of a man to have sexual intercourse with women, without 
living with them as man and wife, is like arguing whether 
it be good or evil for the health of man to drink the blood 
of other human beings. 

V. 

Fighting the Sin of Lustfulness 

1. As an animal man must fight with other creatures 
and multiply in order to increase his species ; but as a crea- 
ture endowed with love and reason man must not fight with 
other creatures, but love them all, and must not multiply, 
in order to increase his species, but be chaste. The combi- 
nation of these two opposite inclinations, — the striving to 



132 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

fight for sexual gratification, and the striving after love and 
chastity, — fashions the life of man as it should be lived. 

2. What must a pure youth and a pure maiden do when 
their sexual feelings are awakened? What should guide 
them? They must keep themselves pure and strive more 
and more after chastity in thought and desire. 

What must a youth and a maiden do who have become 
subject to temptation and are engrossed with thoughts of 
love whether indefinite or directed to an individual person? 

The same. They must not permit themselves to fall, 
knowing that submitting to temptation will not set them 
free from it, but will augment it, and they must still strive 
more and more after chastity. 

What must people do when the struggle proves too 
much for them and they fall? 

They must not look upon their fall as upon a lawful 
pleasure, as is done now when it is sanctioned in marriage, 
nor as an act of occasional gratification which may be 
repeated with others, nor yet as a calamity (in the case of 
unequal partners and unsanctioned by ceremonial), but they 
must look upon this first fall as the initiation of an indis- 
soluble marriage. 

What must a man and a woman do who have entered 
matrimony ? 

Still the same : they must together strive to free them- 
selves from sexual lusts. 

3. The principal weapon in combating lust is the man's 
realization of his spirituality. A man must only remember 
what he is in order to see sexual lust for what it is: a 
degrading animal characteristic. 

4. Fighting the lust of sex is imperative. But you 
must know in advance the full strength of the enemy with- 
out beguiling yourself with false hopes of a speedy triumph. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 133 

The fight against this foe is bound to be hard. Yet do not 
lose courage. Let there be falls but do not lose courage. 
The child learning to walk falls a hundred times, is hurt, 
weeps and rises to its feet only to fall again, but in the 
end he learns to walk. It is not the fall that is terrible, it 
is the attempt to excuse the fall. Terrible is that falsehood 
which attempts to prove these falls to be something neces- 
sary, inevitable, or something beautiful and lofty. What 
if on the way to freedom from defilement, to perfection, we 
fall because of weakness and stray from the path, let us 
still endeavor to follow this path. Do not let us say that 
the defilement is our fate, do not let us philosophize or burst 
into poetry in self -justification, let us firmly remember 
that evil is evil, and that we will not commit it. 

Nazhivin. 

5. Struggling against sexual lusts is the most difficult 
of all combats; there is no age or condition, infancy and 
hoary age alone excepted, when man is free from it. And 
the adult man and woman who have not reached senility 
must be always on guard against the foe who is merely 
awaiting a favorable opportunity for an attack. 

6. All passions are born of thought and are sustained 
by it. But no passion is sustained and nourished by thought 
so much as lust. Do not dwell on lustful thoughts, but re- 
pel them. 

7. Even as in eating man must learn abstinence from 
animals, who eat only when hungry, and stop when satisfied, 
so men must learn from animals in sexual matters: to re- 
frain from sexual intercourse until attaining full maturity 
as the animals do, to engage in it only when irresistibly 
drawn, and to abstain as soon as the foetus is formed. 

8. One of the surest signs that a man truly means to 



134 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

lead an upright life is a man's austerity with himself in 
sexual life. 

VI. 

Matrimony 

1. It is good for a man not to touch a woman. 
Nevertheless to avoid fornication, let every man have 

his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. 

/. Cor., vii, 1-2. 

2. The Christian doctrine does not set down hard and 
fast rules for all. It merely points to that perfection after 
which we must strive. It is the same in sexual matters. 
Perfection is absolute chastity. And every degree of striv- 
ing by personal effort, to approach perfection is a greater 
or lesser degree of obeying the doctrine. 

3. Marriage is the promise of two persons, a man and 
a woman, to have children only one from the other. Either 
of the two failing to carry out this promise, commits a sin 
which falls back most harshly upon the sinning one. 

4. In order to attain a goal one must aim beyond it. 
And to make a marriage indissoluble, to have both partners 
remain faithful one to the other, it is necessary for both 
to aim at chastity. 

5. It is a grievous error to think that the marriage cere- 
mony performed on two persons releases the contracting 
parties from the necessity of sexual abstinence with the 
object of attaining even in the marriage union an ever in- 
creasing degree of chastity. 

6. If man, as is the custom with us, sees in sexual 
intercourse, though it be sanctioned by marriage, a means 
of gratification, he will inevitably lapse into vice. 

7. The essence of a true and valid marriage is to live 
together, so that children may be brought into the world. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 135 

External ceremonies, declarations or agreements do not 
constitute marriage, but are used by many in order to rec- 
ognize as marriage only one out of many forms of living 
together. 

8. The true Chiistian doctrine having no basis for 
the institution of matrimony, the people of our Christian 
world feel that this institution is not founded on any Chris- 
tian doctrine, and remaining blind to Christ's ideal of abso- 
lute chastity (which the prevailing teachings ignore), they 
are absolutely without any guidance on the subject of mat- 
rimony. This accounts for the otherwise very strange 
phenomenon that races with religious beliefs on a far lower 
level than Christianity, having no exact external definitions 
of marriage, present family principles and marital fidelity 
of a much more stable order than the so-called Christian 
nations. Races with religious beliefs inferior to Christian- 
ity have well defined systems of concubinage or polygamy, 
and within certain bounds also polyandry, but they lack 
that utter dissoluteness manifesting itself in the concubin- 
age, polygamy and polyandry which prevail among Chris- 
tians and are hidden under the mask of a fictitious mon- 
ogamy. 

9. If a purpose of a meal is to feed the body, he 
who eats two meals at once, may attain more pleasure, but 
will fall short of his purpose, for the stomach will not 
digest both meals. If the purpose of marriage is the fam- 
ily, he who desires more than one wife, or she who desires 
more than one husband, may obtain more gratification, but 
will fall short of the principal pleasure justifying matri- 
mony — namely family life. To feed well and to purpose, 
man must not eat more than he can digest. A good mar- 
riage, if it is to attain its purpose, can only be when the 
man has no more wives, and the woman has no more bus- 



136 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

bands than they need for the proper education of their 
children, which means only when the husband has one wife, 
and the wife one husband. 

10. Christ was asked : Is it lawful for a man to leave 
one wife and take another? And he said that this ought 
not to be, that a man and a woman in marriage should be 
so joined that the twain be one body. And that this was 
the law of God, and that what God has joined together, 
no man should put asunder. 

But the disciples asserted that it was hard thus to live 
with a wife. And Jesus told them that man need not marry, 
but if he did not marry he must live a pure life. 

11. In order to make marriage rational and moral, the 
following is needful : 

First, it must not be thought, as is done now, that 
every human being, male and female, must marry without 
fail, but on the contrary every human being, man and 
woman, must endeavor to preserve their purity to the best 
of their ability so that nothing should hinder them from 
giving all their powers to the service of God. 

Second, to look upon sexual intercourse of one person 
with another of the opposite sex, no matter who they may 
be, as the entering upon indissoluble marriage relation. 

(Matthew XIX, 4-7). 

Thirdly, marriage must not be looked upon as now in 
the light of a license to satisfy sexual passions, but as a 
sin, the redemption from which consists in the fulfilment of 
family obligations. 

12. The licensing of two persons of opposite sexes to 
live together sexually in marriage is not only, out of accord 
with the Christian teaching, but is directly contrary to it. 

Chastity according to the Christian doctrine is that 
perfection towards which a person leading the life of a 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 137 

Christian should properly strive. Therefore all that hinders 
the approach to chastity, such as licensing of sexual re- 
lations in marriage, is opposed to the demands of the 
Christian doctrine. 

13. If marriage is looked upon as releasing us with 
the moment of its conclusion from the necessity of striving 
after chastity, then marriage instead of curtailing lust en- 
courages it. Unfortunately this is the attitude of the ma- 
jority of people to marriage. 

14. Think ten, twenty, a hundred times before you 
marry. To bind your life with that of another person in 
a sexual relation is a matter of great import. 

VII. 

Children are the Ransom of Sexual Sin 

1. If man attained perfection and lived in chastity, 
mankind would cease to exist, and why, indeed, should it 
then live on earth, for they would become like angels who 
neither marry nor are given in marriage, as is told in the 
New Testament. But as long as men have not attained per- 
fection, they must produce after their kind, so that their 
descendants, in their striving after perfection, may attain 
that perfection which men are destined to attain. 

2. Marriage, the genuine marriage consisting in the 
bearing and rearing of children, is an intermediate service 
of God, serving God through your children. "If I have 
left undone the things which I ought to have done, here 
are my children in my place, they will do them." 

This is why people who enter married life, the genuine 
married life having for its object the bearing of children, 
always experience a feeling of a certain relief and peace. 
They feel that they transmit a certain part of their obli- 
gations to the children that are to come. But this feeling 



138 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

is lawful only when the parents joined in matrimony en- 
deavor so to rear their children that they become the ser- 
vants of God and not a hindrance to the work of God. 
The consciousness that if I have fallen short in yielding 
myself entirely to the service of God, I can do everything 
in my power to enable my children to do what I failed to 
do, — this consciousness lends a spiritual significance both 
to married life and to the bringing up of children. 

3. Blessed is the childhood, which amid the cruelties 
of earth, gives us a little glimpse of Heaven. These eighty 
thousand daily births of which the statistics speak are like 
currents of innocence and freshness which fight not only 
against the destruction of the species, but also against hu- 
man corruption and the general infection with sin. All the 
good feelings evoked by the sight of the cradle and by 
childhood are one of the mysteries of Providence; remove 
this refreshing dew and the whirlwind of selfish passions 
will sear human society as though with fire. 

If we imagined human society as consisting of a bil- 
lion immortal creatures, whose number could neither in- 
crease nor decrease, where should we be, what would 
become of us, great Lord! We should doubtless become 
a thousand times more learned, but also a thousand times 
more evil. 

Blessed be childhood for the blessing it gives in itself, 
and for the good it unwittingly effects by compelling and 
permitting us to love it. Only thanks to childhood do we 
see a little of Paradise here on earth. Blessed be also 
Death. Angels need no birth or death to live, but man- 
kind imperatively, inevitably requires both. Amiel. 

4. Marriage is justified and hallowed only through 
children, inasmuch as though we have failed to do all God 
wants us to do, we still can serve the cause of God through 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 139 

our children, if we train them right. Therefore, that mar- 
riage wherein the contracting parties desire no children is 
worse than adultery and any depravity. 

5. Among the rich children are often looked upon as 
hindrance to enjoyment, or an unfortunate accident, or as 
a certain sort of sport if they are born in a predetermined 
number, and they are brought up not with any regard to 
those problems of human life which they must face as 
beings endowed with love and reason, but solely from the 
point of view of pleasure which they can yield to their 
parents. Such children are generally brought up by their 
parents not with any care to prepare them for a worthy 
activity, but to increase their height, keep them outwardly 
clean, fair of skin, wellfed, handsome, pampered and sen- 
sual (and the false science called medicine supports the 
parents in this attitude). Fine apparel, entertainments, 
theatres, music, dances, sweetmeats, the entire order of 
life from pictures on boxes to novels and poems still further 
excite sensuousness, so that the filthiest sexual vices and 
diseases are the usual conditions in the youth of these 
unfortunate children of the rich. 

6. The significance of bearing children is lost for 
people who look upon carnal love as a means of gratifi- 
cation. Instead of being the purpose and the justification 
of marital relations, they become a hindrance to an agree- 
able continuance of pleasures, and therefore both in and out 
of marriage the employment of means of preventing women 
from having children has grown apace. These people do 
not only deprive themselves of the sole pleasure and the 
only redeeming feature of marriage as afforded by the 
children, but also lose human dignity and semblance. 

7. In all animal life, particularly in the bringing forth 
of children, man ought to be above the animals, but cer- 



140 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

tainly not beneath them. But people are just in this one 
particular the inferior of animals. In the animal world 
the male and the female come together only when issue 
may result. But people, man and woman, come together 
for pleasure, without thinking whether it will lead to the 
birth of children or not. 

8. It is not our business to argue whether the birth of 
children is or is not a blessing. Our business is to carry 
out with regard to them all of the obligations which their 
birth, for which we are responsible, imposes upon us. 



SLOTH 



SLOTH 

It is unjust to receive from people more than the labor 
which you give them. But since you cannot gauge exactly 
whether you give more than you receive, and since further 
you may at any moment lose your strength, fall prey to 
disease and be compelled to receive instead of giving, en- 
deavor, while you have the strength, to labor for others as 
little as possible. 

I 

If a Man Avails Himself of the Labors of Others, without 
Laboring Himself, He Sins Grievously 

1. He who will not work, neither let him eat. 

Apostle Paul. 

2. In making use of anything, remember that it is the 
product of human labor, and if you waste, spoil or destroy 
anything you waste labor, and sometimes, even human life. 

3. He who does not feed himself by his own labor, 
but compels others to support him, is a cannibal. 

Eastern Wisdom. 

4. The entire code of Christian morality, in its prac- 
tical application, consists in considering all men as brothers, 
being equal to all, and to carry this out in practice, first of 
all you must cease inducing others to labor for you, and 
in the present order of the world you must reduce to a 
minimum your use of the labor and the products of others, 
meaning things procured with money, spend as little money 
as possible and live as simply as possible. 

5. Do not let another do what you can do yourself. 
Let every one sweep before his own door. If every man 
will do this, the street will be clean. 



144 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

6. What is the sweetest food? The food which you 
have earned with your own labor. Mohammed. 

7. It is a very good thing for a rich man to leave, 
though it be for a short season, his life of luxury, and to 
live, though for a brief time, as a laborer, performing 
with his own hands the tasks usually performed for rich 
men by hired servants. Let a rich man do this but once, 
and he will soon realize the great sinfulness of his former 
ways. Let him live in this fashion for a season and he 
will realize fully the wrongfulness of the life of the rich. 

8. Men have in the habit of considering cooking, 
sewing and nursing children a task for women and some- 
thing shameful for a man to engage in. Yet, on the con- 
trary, it is a shameful thing for an idle man to fritter 
away his time with trifles and to do nothing, while a weary, 
frequently a weakly woman, on the threshold of child- 
birth, is cooking, washing and nursing children for him. 

9. People living in luxury cannot love others. They 
cannot love others, because the things they use were made 
by people whom they compel to render them service, and 
this service is rendered unwillingly, through sheer neces- 
sity, frequently with curses of resentment. If they would 
love others let them first cease torturing them. 

10. A monk was seeking salvation in the desert. Un- 
ceasingly he read his prayers, and twice each night he 
arose from his bed to pray. A peasant supplied him with 
food. And a doubt entered his mind whether such life 
was good. And he sought out an aged saint to ask his 
counsel. He came to the aged saint and told him all about 
his life, how he prayed, what words he used, how he was 
wont to break his sleep and lived on alms and asked the 
saint whether he was doing well. And the saint replied: 
"All these thou doest well, but go thou and look how the 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 145 

peasant liveth, the one who brings thy food. Perhaps thou 
canst learn something from him." 

The monk sought out the peasant and spent a day 
and a night with him. The peasant arose early in the 
morning and all his prayer was : "O Lord !" Then he 
labored all day, plowing. At night he returned home and 
on retiring again uttered his prayer : "O Lord !" 

The monk watched the peasant's life for a day and 
said to himself : "There is nothing that I can learn f rom 
him." And he marveled why the saint had sent him to 
the peasant. 

Then he returned to his adviser and told him that he 
had been to see the peasant, but found nothing instruct- 
ive. "He does not think of God, and mentions Him only 
twice a day." 

The saint replied: "Take this cup of oil and walk 
around the village, then come back, but see thou spill not 
one drop." 

The monk did as he was bid and when he returned 
the saint questioned him : 

"How many times didst thou remember God while 
bearing the cup?" 

The monk admitted that he had not remembered him 
once. "I was only watching to see that I spilt no oil." 

And the saint reproved him : "This one cup of oil so 
engrossed thy mind that thou didst not once think of God. 
The peasant feeds his family, himself and thee with his 
labor and care and yet twice he remembered God." 

II. 

It is Not a Hardship, But a Joy, to Obey the 

Command to Labor 
1. "In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou earn thy 
daily bread." Such is the immutable law of the body. 



146 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

Just as the law of the woman is to bear her children in 
pain, so the law of labor is imposed upon man. A woman 
cannot free herself of that law. If she adopt a child born 
of another, it will always be a stranger to her and she 
will lose the joy of motherhood. Even so with the labor 
of man. If a man eat the bread earned by another, he 
deprives himself of the joy of labor. Bondareff. 

2. Man fears death and is subject unto it. A man 
without knowledge of good and evil might seem happy, 
but he irresistibly strives towards that knowledge. Man 
loves idleness and the satisfaction of his desires without 
suffering, and yet it is labor and suffering that mean life 
to him and to his kind. 

3. What a dreadful error to think that the soul of 
man may live the highest life of the spirit, while his body 
is maintained in idleness and luxury! The body is always 
the first disciple of the soul. Thoreau. 

4. If a man, living alone, releases himself from the 
law of laboring, he executes himself immediately through 
the weakening and decaying of his body. But if a man 
releases himself from that law by compelling others to 
labor for him, he immediately executes himself through 
the eclipsing and weakening of his soul. 

5. Man lives the life of the body and of the spirit. 
And there is a law of the life of the body and a law of 
the life of the spirit. The law of the life of the body 
is labor. The law of the life of the spirit is love. If a 
man violate the law of the life of the body, the law of 
labor, he is bound to violate the law of the life of the 
spirit, the law of love. 

6. No matter how gorgeous may be the attire pre- 
sented to you by a king, your homespun garments are 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 147 

better; no matter how delicate may be the viands of the 
rich, the bread of -your own table is sweeter. Saadi. 

7. If you labor much for others, do not let your labor 
seem burdensome, seek no praise for it, remember that 
your labor, if performed for others with love, avails above 
all things for your true self, your soul. 

8. The power of God makes all people equal, taking 
away from those who have much, giving unto those who 
have little. Rich men have more things and less joy from 
them. The poor have fewer things, but more joy. The 
water from a brook, and a piece of bread taste sweeter 
to a poor laborer after his toil than the most expensive 
viands and beverages to a rich idler. The rich man has 
tasted all things and is bored, he finds no joy in anything. 
The laborer, after his toil, finds each time new pleasures 
in food, in drink and in rest. 

9. Hell is hidden behind pleasures, Paradise behind 
labor and privations. Mohammed. 

10. Without the toil of the hand there can be no sound 
body, neither can there be sound thoughts in the head. 

11. Would you be always in good humor? Labor 
until you are weary. Idleness makes men dissatisfied and 
cross. Laboring beyond measure may produce the same 
effect. 

12. One of the best and purest of pleasures is rest 
after labor. ^ ant 

III. 

The Best Toil is Tilling the Soil 
1. In the course of time all men will recognize that 
truth which has been already realized by the foremost 
men of all races that the principal virtue of mankind con- 



148 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

sists in obeying the laws of the Supreme Being. "Earth 
thou art, to earth shalt thou return," this is the first law 
of our life which we acknowledge. And the second law 
is to cultivate the earth from which we were taken and to 
which we must return. The tilling of the soil, and the 
love of animals and plant life which is bound up with it, 
help the man best of all to realize the meaning of life, 
and to live it. Ruskin. 

2. Agriculture is not merely one of the occupations 
proper to man. Agriculture is the one occupation proper 
to all men; agricultural labor gives man the maximum 
of freedom and the maximum of happiness. 

3. To him who does not till the earth, the earth says : 
"Because thou dost not work me with thy right hand and 
with thy left, thou shalt always stand before the door of 
the stranger with other beggars, thou shalt always live on 
the offal of the rich." Zarathustra. 

4. In our present mode of life the most futile and 
useless work receives the greatest reward; work in sweat 
shops, tobacco factories, pharmacies, banks, business of- 
fices, or at literature, music, etc., but agricultural labor 
is the poorest paid. If money rewards be considered of 
importance, this is very unjust. But if one considers the 
joy of labor and its effect upon the health of the body and 
the fascination of it, such a division of reward is per- 
fectly just. 

5. Manual labor, and particularly tilling the soil, is 
good not only for the body, but also for the soul. Men 
who do not labor with their hands cannot have a sound 
idea of things. Such men are forever thinking, speaking, 
listening or reading. Their mind has no rest, is excited 
and easily wanders. Agricultural labor, on the other hand, 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 149 

is useful to man because in addition to resting him it 
enables him to realize simply, clearly and reasonably the 
place of man in life. 

6. I am very fond of peasants. They are not educated 
enough to reason incorrectly. Montaigne. 

IV. 

What is Known as Division of Labor is Merely 
a Brief for Idleness 

1. Lately much has been said to show that the principal 
cause of success in production is division of labor. We say 
"division of labor," but this term is incorrect. In our so- 
ciety it is not labor that is divided, but human beings — these 
are divided into human particles, broken into small pieces, 
ground into dust: in a factory one man makes only one 
minute portion of an article, because that tiny fragment of 
reason which he retains is insufficient to make a complete 
pin or a complete nail, and is exhausted in the task of point- 
ing the pin or heading the nail. It is true that it is good 
and desirable to make as many pins daily as possible, but if 
we realized the material with which we finish them, we 
would realize how unprofitable it all is. It is unprofitable 
because we polish them with the dust of the human soul. 

It is possible to chain and torture people, to harness 
them like animals, to kill them like flies in the summer time, 
and yet these people may remain in a certain sense, perhaps 
in the best sense, free. But to crush their immortal souls, 
to choke and transform men into movers of machinery, 
herein is true slavery. Only this degradation and transfor- 
mation of men into machines forces the workingmen to fight 
madly, destructively and vainly for freedom, the true mean- 
ing of which they do not understand. Their resentment is 
not aroused by the pressure of hunger, not by the pangs of 



150 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE ' 

injured pride (these two causes have always had their 
effect, but the foundations of society have never been as 
shaky as they are now). It is not that they are not well 
fed, but that they do not experience any pleasure in the toil 
whereby they earn their daily bread, and for this reason they 
look upon wealth as the only source of pleasure. 

It is not that these men suffer from the contempt felt 
for them by the upper classes, but they cannot bear their 
own self-contempt because they feel that the labor to which 
they are condemned degrades and depraves them, making 
them something less than men. 

Never have the upper classes shown so much love and 
sympathy to the lower classes as now, and yet they have 
never been more hated. Ruskin. 

2. Men, like all animals, must labor and toil with hands 
and feet. Men may compel others to do what they need, 
but still they must expend bodily energy on something. If 
men will not perform necessary and reasonable tasks, they 
will do what is useless and foolish. This is what happens 
among the wealthy classes. 

3. The idle classes justify their idleness by claiming 
to attend to arts and sciences which are needful to the peo- 
ple. They undertake to provide the laboring people with 
these things, but unfortunately all that they offer under the 
name of arts and sciences is false arts and false sciences. So 
that instead of rewarding the people for their labor, they 
deceive and corrupt them with their offerings. 

4. The European boasts to a Chinaman about the ad- 
vantages of machinery production. "Machinery saves man 
from labor," says the European. "To be saved from labor 
would be a terrible calamity," retorts the Chinaman. 

5. Riches may be obtained only in three ways: by 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 151 

labor, begging or theft. The workingmen get so little for 
their labor because the share of the beggars and the thieves 
is too great. Henry George. 

6. All men who do not labor themselves, but live by 
the labor of others, no matter what they may call themselves, 
as long as they do not labor but take the fruit of the labor 
of ochers, all such men are robbers. And there are three 
classes of such robbers: some neither see, nor care to see 
that they are robbers, and rob their brother with equanimity ; 
others feel that they are wrong, but imagine that they can 
excuse their robberies by the plea of such immaterial labors 
as they may consider useful to people, and they too con- 
tinue to rob. Still others, and these, thanks be to God, are 
growing more numerous, realize their sin and endeavor to 
set themselves free from it. 

V. 

The Activities of Men Who Do Not Obey the Law of 
Laboring are Always Futile and Fruitless 

1. The activities of idle men are such that instead of 
easing the labors of the working people they impose upon 
them additional burdens. 

2. As the horse at the treadmill cannot stop, but must 
go on, even so is man incapable of doing nothing. There- 
fore there is as little merit in the fact of a man working as 
in the horse treading the mill. Xot the fact that a man is 
working is of consequence, but what he is doing is of im- 
portance. 

3. Man's dignity, his sacred duty and obligation de- 
mand that he use his hands and feet for the purpose for 
which they were given him, that he employ the food which 
he consumes upon the labor which produces this food, and 



152 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

not to have them atrophied, or to wash them and cleanse 
them nor to use them merely as an instrument for conveying 
food, drink or cigarettes to the mouth. 

4. Men who have given up working with their hands 
may be clever, but seldom are rational. If so much nonsense 
and foolishness has been written, printed and taught in our 
schools, if our writings, music, pictures are so refined and 
hard to understand, it is merely due to the fact that those 
who are responsible for these things do not toil with their 
hands and live the life of weakness and idleness. 

Emerson. 

5. Manual labor is particularly important because it 
prevents the straying of the mind : giving thought to trifles. 

6. The brain of the idler is the favorite resort of the 
devil. 

7. Men seek pleasure, rushing here and there, because 
they feel the emptiness of their life, but do not yet feel 
the emptiness of the whim that attracts them for the mo- 
ment. Pascal 

8. No one has ever counted the millions of days of 
hard, strenuous toil, the hundreds of thousands of lives 
which are being wasted to-day in our world upon the prep- 
aration of amusements. That is why the amusements of our 
world are so sad. 

9. Man, like any other animal, is so made that he must 
work in order not to perish from hunger and cold. And 
this work, just as in the case of all animals, is not a torture, 
but a pleasure, if no one interferes with his work. 

But men have so ordered their life that some, without 
working, compel others to work for them, and bored by this 
state of affairs think up all sorts of banel and vile things 
in order to pass away the time; others must work beyond 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 153 

their strength and are embittered principally because they 
work for others and not for themselves. 

It is not well with either of these two classes. Those 
who will not work, because their idleness ruins their souls; 
the others, because working to excess they waste their body. 

But these latter are still better off than the idlers, for 
the soul is more precious than the body. 

VI. 

The Harm of Idleness 

1. Do not be ashamed of any labor, even the dirtiest, 
be ashamed of one thing only, namely : idleness. 

2. Do not respect people for their position or wealth, 
but for the work they do. The more useful this work is, 
the more respect they are entitled to. But it is different in 
the world : idle and rich men are respected, and those who 
perform the most useful of all labors, agriculturists and 
laborers, are not respected at all. 

3. The idle rich seek to throw dust in people's eyes 
with their display of luxury. They feel that otherwise peo- 
ple would treat them with the contempt they deserve. 

4. It is a shame for man to hear the counsel : "imitate 
the ant in his industry." And it is doubly shameful if he 
does not follow this counsel. Tahnudic teaching. 

5. One of the most remarkable delusions is the idea 
that the happiness of man consists in doing nothing. 

6. Eternal idleness should have been included among 
the tortures of Hell, and they have given it a place among 
the joys of Paradise. Montaigne. 

7. He who idles has always many assistants. 

8. "Division of labor" is mostly an excuse for doing 
nothing, or performing some trifling tasks and shifting on 



154 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

the shoulders of others the labor which is necessary. Those 
who attend to this division of labor always take for them- 
selves such work as seems the most pleasant to them, leav- 
ing to others that which appears to them hard. 

And strangely enough, they are always deceived, for 
the work that seems to them the most agreeable, turns out 
to be the most onerous in the end, and that which they 
avoided the most pleasant. 

9. Never trouble others to do what you can do your- 
self. 

10. Doubts, sorrows, melancholy, resentment, despair — 
these are the fiends that lie in wait for a man, and the mo- 
ment he enters upon a life of idleness, they attack him. The 
surest salvation from these evil spirits is persistent physical 
labor. When a man takes up such labor, the devils dare not 
approach him, but merely snarl at him from afar. 

Carlyle. 

11. The Devil fishing for men uses all sorts of bait. 
But the idle man needs no bait, he is caught with the bare 
hook. 

12. There are two proverbs : "Work will bend your 
back, but will not fill your pockets," and again: "Honest 
toil will earn you no mansions." These two proverbs are 
unjust, because it is better to have a bent back than be 
unjustly rich, and honest toil is to be preferred to man- 
sions. 

13. It is better to take a rope and go into the forest 
in search of a bundle of wood to be sold for food, than to 
beg food of people. If they refuse it, you are annoyed, if 
they give it, you are ashamed, which is worse. 

Mohammed. 

14. There were two brothers, one was in the service 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 155 

of a nobleman, the other lived by the labor of his hands. 
The rich brother said one day to the poor one : "Why 
don't you enter the service of my master? You would not 
know hardships or toil." 

And the poor one replied : "Why don't you labor ? You 
w r ould not know humiliation and servitude." 

Philosophers say that it is better to eat in peace the 
bread earned by toil than to wear a golden girdle and be the 
servant of another. It is better to mix lime and clay with 
your hands than to fold them on your breast as a sign of 
servitude. Saadi. 

15. The best life is not to stand at the door of the 
rich man speaking in a pleading voice. In order to have 
such life, have no fear of labor. Hindu wisdom. 

16. If you will not labor, you must either crawl before 
others or use force upon them. 

17. Alms are a good work only if they are given from 
the proceeds of your own labor. 

The proverb says: the dry hand is tight, the sweating 
hand is generous. And so we read in the "Teachings of 
the 12 Apostles": "Let your alms come out of your hand 
covered with the sweat thereof." 

18. The widow's mite is not only equal to the most 
precious gifts, but it is this mite alone which is a genuine 
work of mercy. 

Only the toiling poor know the happiness of true com- 
passion. Rich idlers are deprived of it. 

19. A rich man had everything that people desire: 
millions in coin, a manigficent palace, a beautiful wife, hun- 
dreds of servants, sumptuous repasts, all sorts of dainties 
and wines, stables filled with a multitude of horses. And 
he tired of it all, he wearied of sitting all day in his mag- 



156 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

nificent mansion, he sighed and complained of his weariness. 
The only thing left for him in the way of joy was eating. 
When he awoke from sleep, he awaited his breakfast, after 
his breakfast he waited for dinner, and after dinner he 
looked forward to his supper. But even this joy did not 
last. He ate so much that he ruined his digestion and felt 
no appetite for food. He summoned his physicians. The 
physicians gave him some medicine and ordered him to 
walk two hours each day. 

And as he was walking by the physician's orders his 
alloted two hours, ruminating upon his lack of desire for 
food, a beggar approached him: 

"Alms," he pleaded, "alms, for the sake of Christ." 

The rich man was engrossed with his own sorrow and 
did not hear the beggar. , 

"Pity me, master, for I have not eaten the whole day." 

When the rich man heard him speak of food, he 
stopped. 

"You desire to eat?" 

"Very much, master, very much, indeed." 

"What a fortunate fellow," thought the rich man, and 
he envied the beggar. 

Poor men envy the rich, and the rich envy the poor. 

They are all alike. The poor are better off, for fre- 
quently they are not to blame for their poverty, but the 
rich have always themselves to blame for their wealth. 



COVETOUSNESS 



COVETOUSNESS 

The sin of covetousness consists in the acquisition of 
ever increasing quantities of things or money, of which 
others stand in need, and in the retention of the same, in 
order to use at will the labor of others. 

I. 

Wherein is the Sin of Wealth? 

1. In our society man cannot sleep without paying for 
his lodging. The air, the water, the light of the sun are 
his only on the great highway. His sole recognized right 
is to walk upon this highway until he reels from fatigue, 
because he cannot stop, but must keep on moving. 

Grant Allen. 

2. Ten good men can lie down and sleep in peace upon 
one mat, but two rich men cannot live in peace in ten rooms. 
A good man having a loaf of bread will share half with a 
hungry neighbor, but a conqueror may conquer a continent 
and will never rest until he conquers another. 

3. A rich family may have fifteen rooms to accom- 
modate three persons, yet there will be no room to shelter a 
beggar from the cold and to give him a night's lodging. 

A peasant has a hut seven yards square for his flock of 
seven souls, yet he readily admits a wanderer, saying: God 
bids us share with others half and half. 

4. The rich and the poor supplement one another. If 
there are rich, there must be poor also. If there is sense- 
less luxury, that terrible need is likewise bound to exist 
which forces those that are poor to serve senseless luxury. 

Christ loved the poor and avoided the rich. 



160 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

And in the Kingdom of Truth which he preached there 
could be neither rich nor poor. Henry George. 

5. The tramp is the inevitable complement to a mil- 
lionaire. 

6. The pleasures of the rich are obtained with the 
tears of the poor. 

7. When rich men speak of public welfare I know that 
it is a mere conspiracy of the rich seeking their own profit 
in the name and under the pretext of public welfare. 

Thomas Moore. 

8. Honest men are not usually rich. Rich men are not 
usually honest. Lao-Tse. 

9. "Do not rob a poor man because he is poor," says 
Solomon. Yet this robbing of the poor man because he is 
poor is the most usual thing. The rich always utilize the 
need of the poor to make them work for the rich or to buy 
that which they sell at the lowest price. 

The robbery of a rich man upon the highways, for the 
sake of his riches, is a much rarer occurrence, because it is 
dangerous to rob the rich, but a poor man may be robbed 
without any risk. John Ruskin. 

10. People of the working class frequently endeavor 
to pass into the class of the wealthy who live by the labor 
of others. This they call coming among better people. But 
it would be more correct to say "leaving good people to go 
among worse people." 

11. Wealth is a great sin before God, poverty a great 
sin before people. Russian proverb. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 161 

II. 

Man and the Land 

1. As I was born for the land, the land has been also 
given me to take from it what I need for cultivation and 
planting, and I have the right to demand my share. Show 
me where it is. Emerson. 

2. The earth is our common mother; it feeds us, shel- 
ters us, gladdens us and warms us with love; from the 
moment of our birth, and until we find rest in eternal sleep 
upon its maternal bosom, it constantly caresses us with its 
tender embraces. 

Yet in spite of this, people talk of selling it, and as a 
matter of fact in our mercenary age earth is valued in a 
market for selling purposes. But selling the earth that was 
made by the Heavenly Creator is a wild absurdity. The 
earth can belong only to God Omnipotent and all the chil- 
dren of men who labor upon it. 

It is not the property of any one generation — but of all 
generations past, present and future. Carlyle. 

3. Suppose we occupy an island and live by the labor 
of our hands, and a shipwrecked mariner is cast upon our 
shore. Has he the same basic natural right as we to occupy 
a portion of the land and to feed himself by the labor of 
his hands ? It seems that this right is indubitable. Yet how 
many men are born upon our planet to whom men living on 
it deny this very same right. Lavelais 

III. 

Harmful Effects of Wealth 
1. Men complain of poverty and use every means to 
attain wealth, yet poverty and need give man firmness and 



162 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

strength, while on the contrary excesses and luxury lead to 
weakness and ruin. 

It is foolish for poor men to seek to change their con- 
dition which is beneficial both to body and soul for riches 
which are harmful to both. 

2. Necessity trains and teaches. Wealth confounds. 

Russian proverb. 

3. The poor man has his troubles, but the rich man 
has a double share. 

4. The life of the rich man is bad both because he can 
never be at peace for fear that his wealth will take wings, 
and because as his wealth increases, so do his worries and 
duties increase. But principally because he can associate 
with few people only, who must be as rich as he. He can- 
not associate with poor people. If he лѵеге to foregather 
with the poor he would clearly realize his own sin, and he 
could not avoid being ashamed of himself. 

5. Wealth has gold — poverty has joy. 

Russian proverb. 

6. Riches lead man to pride, cruelty, self satisfied 
ignorance and vice. Meunier. 

7. Callous and indifferent to the woe of others is the 
man of wealth. Talmud. 

8. The life of the rich, being immune from labor, 
which is a necessity of life, cannot be free from madness. 
Men who do not labor, that is who fail to fulfill one of the 
universal laws governing the life of all men, are bound to 
act like maniacs. They become like domestic animals, 
horses, dogs, and pigs. They romp and fight and rush from 
place to place without knowing why. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 163 

9. Necessity sharpens the wit, wealth dulls it. Fat and 
laziness drive even a dog to madness. Russian proverb. 

10. A merciful man is never rich. A rich man is 
surely not merciful. Manchu proverb. 

11. Men seek wealth, but if they only knew how much 
of good people lose while acquiring wealth they would as 
zealously seek to get rid of it as they now seek to acquire it. 

12. A time is coming, nor is it afar off, when people 
will cease to believe that riches give happiness, and will 
realize the simple truth that while acquiring and retaining 
riches, they do not improve but spoil their own life and the 
lives of others. 

IV. 

Riches are Not to Be Envied, But to Be Ashamed of 

1. Rich men are not to be honored or envied, but to be 
avoided and pitied. The rich man need not boast of his 
wealth, but ought to feel ashamed of it. 

2. It is well if the rich see the sinfulness of riches and 
do not censure the poor for their envy and jealousy. But 
it is bad when they judge the poor for their envy, yet fail 
to perceive their own sin. It is also good if the poor realize 
the sin of their envy and jealousy of the rich, nor censure 
the rich, but pity them instead. But it is bad if they censure 
the rich, but fail to perceive their own sin. 

3. If the poor envy the rich, they are no better than 
the rich. 

4. The self-content of the rich is bad, but no less evil 
is the envy of the poor. How many poor there are who 
judge the rich, yet act just as the rich towards those who 
are still poorer than themselves. 



164 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

V. 

Excuses for Wealth 

1. If you receive an income without laboring for it, 
doubtless some one is laboring without receiving an income 
f° r it- Memnonides. 

2. Only a man convinced that he is not like others, 
but better than others, can with a calm conscience enjoy 
wealth while surrounded by poor. Only the thought that he 
is better than others can justify a man before the tribunal 
of his own heart if he has wealth, while others around 
him are poor. And the most curious thing of all is that 
possession of wealth, which should be a source of shame, 
is considered a proof of a man's superiority over his 
fellows. "I enjoy wealth, because I am better than others, 
and I am better than others, because I enjoy wealth," — 
such is the attitude of a man of this type. 

3. Nothing so clearly exposes the error of the reli- 
gions which we confess as the fact that people considering 
themselves Christians not only enjoy wealth amid universal 
want, but are actually proud of it. 

4. Men can feed themselves in three ways : by robbery, 
begging and labor. It is easy to distinguish those who earn 
their bread by labor; equally easy to tell those who live 
by alms. 

5. One of the most current and the most grievous 
errors of judgment is to consider that as good which one 
likes. Men like wealth, yet although the evil of wealth 
is very apparent, they try to persuade themselves that 
wealth is good. 

6. Rich men seemingly could not pretend either to 
themselves or to others that they do not know how hard 
the working people must toil, — some under ground, others 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 165 

in the water, still others around furnaces, ten to fourteen 
hours at a stretch, many working nights in various fac- 
tories, — and, they are engaged in such cruel work just be- 
cause the rich give them a chance to live only in return for 
the performance of such tasks. Seemingly it would not be 
possible to deny something so patent. Yet the rich do not 
see it, just as the children who close their eyes to avoid 
seeing that which frightens them. 

7. Can it be that God gave something to one man 
and denied it to another? Can it be that the common 
Father of all has excluded any one of his children? You, 
men, who claim the exclusive right to enjoy His gifts show 
us that will and testament whereby He should have de- 
prived your other brothers of their heritage. 

Lamenais. 

8. It is true that wealth is an accumulation of labor. 
But usually one man labors, another accumulates. And 
this is what scientists call "division of labor." 

From English Sources. 

9. Pagans considered wealth a blessing and a glory, 
but to a true Christian wealth is an evil and a shame. 

To say a "rich Christian" is like saying "warm ice." 

10. It would seem that in the face of the agonizing 
poverty of the working people who are dying for want of 
necessaries and because of excessive toil (who can claim 
ignorance of these facts?) the rich men who enjoy the 
fruit of these labors bought with the lives of men could 
not be at peace for a single moment. Yet there are rich 
men who are liberal minded, humane and very sensitive 
to the sufferings of men and animals, who never cease to 
enjoy the fruits of these labors and who ever endeavor 
to increase their own wealth, that is to add to the fruit of 



166 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

these labors enjoyed by them, and while engaged in this 
pursuit they are perfectly serene. 

This is due to the new science of political economy, 
which explains things in a new way, showing that the divi- 
sion of labor and the enjoyment of the fruits thereof de- 
pend upon supply and demand, upon capital, income, wage, 
market values, profits, etc. 

Upon this theme a multitude of books and pamphlets 
have been written in a very short time, a multitude of 
lectures have been delivered, and there is no end to such 
books and pamphlets and lectures. 

The majority of people may not know the details of 
these soothing explanations of science, but they neverthe- 
less know that such explanations exist, and that bright 
and learned men demonstrate right along that the present 
order of things is just as it should be, and that we may 
keep on living in peace without trying to change it. 

This alone can account for the darkened state of mind 
of those kind people in our modern society who can sincerely 
pity dumb animals, yet calmly devour the life of their own 
brothers. 

VI. 

In Order to Be Blest, Man Should Pay Heed Not to the 

Increase of His Possessions, But of the Love 

Within Himself 

1. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, 
where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break 
through and steal : 

But lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where 
neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do 
not break through nor steal ; For where your treasure is, 
there will your heart be also. 






THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 167 

To lay up treasures in Heaven is to increase the love 
within you. And love is not in harmony with wealth, it 
is directly contrary to it. A man living the life of love 
cannot either accumulate wealth, or if he has it, he cannot 
retain it. 

2. Earn such wealth that no one can take away from 
you, that will remain with you even after death, that will 
not decay. Such wealth is your soul. 

Hindu proverb. 

3. Men worry a thousand times more about increasing 
their wealth than about increasing their knowledge. And 
yet it is clear to any one that the happiness of man depends 
much more upon what is within man than upon what he 
possesses. Schopenhauer. 

4. And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The 
ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully; 

And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I 
do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits ? 

And he said, This will I do : I will pull down my 
barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my 
fruits and my goods. 

And I will say to my soul : Soul, thou hast much goods 
laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink and 
be merry. 

But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul 
shall be required of thee : then whose shall be the things 
which thou hast provided?" Luke XII, 16-20. 

5. Why does a man wish to be wealthy? Why does 
he need expensive horses, fine raiment, beautiful apart- 
ments, the right to enter public places, amusements? Only 
because of a lack of spiritual life. 



168 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

Give such a man an inner spiritual life and he will 
not require any of these things. Emerson. 

6. As heavy raiment hinders the movements of the 
body, so the riches impede the progress of the soul. 

Demophilos. 

VII. 

Combating the Sin of Covetousness 

1. With what effort and sin riches are gathered and 
preserved! And yet there is but one joy to be had of ac- 
cumulated riches. This joy consists in giving up the riches 
after realizing all the evil thereof. 

2. If you crave the grace of God, show works. But 
there may be still some one who will say with a certain 
rich young man: "All these things have I kept from my 
youth up, I did not steal — slay, commit adultery." And 
Christ said that it was not all, that he still lacked some- 
thing. What was it? "Go, and sell that thou hast," He 
said, "and give to the poor, and come and follow me" 
(Matthew, xix, 21). To follow Him means to imitate 
His works. What works? Loving your neighbor. And 
if a young man living in such abundance could refrain 
from distributing his riches among the poor, how could 
he say that he loved his neighbor? If love is strong, it 
must not be shown in words alone, but in deeds. And a 
rich man can show his love with deeds by giving up his 
riches. 

3. He who has less than he desires. must know that 
he has more than he deserves, Lichtenherg. 

4. There are two ways to escape poverty: one is to 
increase your possessions, the other to teach yourself to 






THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 169 

be content with little. To increase your possessions is not 
always feasible and rarely can be done honestly. To dimin- 
ish your wishes is always in your power and always good 
for your soul. 

5. The meanest thief is not he who takes what he 
needs, but he who clings to that which he does not need 
and which may be needful to others, without giving to 
others. 

6. "But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his 
brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compas- 
sion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? 

My little children, let us not love in word, neither in 
tongue, but in deed and in truth." i j hn, Hi, 17-18. 

And if the rich man would love not in word, neither 
in tongue, but in deed and in truth, let him give to him 
who asks, — said Christ. And if he gave to those who ask, 
no matter how much wealth a man might have, he would 
soon cease to be rich. And as soon as he ceases to be rich, 
he will be in the position of the rich young man to whom 
Christ spoke, there will then be nothing to hinder him 
from following Christ. 

7. Wise men of China said : "Though it be wrong, 
still it is pardonable for a poor man to envy the rich, but 
it is unpardonable for a rich man to boast of his riches 
and to refuse to share them with the poor." 

8. Mercy is only then genuine, when that which you 
give you have torn from yourself. Only then he who re- 
ceives a material gift, receives also a spiritual gift. 

But if the gift be no sacrifice, merely a superfluity, it 
only irritates the recipient. 

9. Munificent rich ignore the fact that their benefac- 



170 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

tions to the poor are merely things they have snatcned 
from the hands of still poorer people. 

10. "No man can serve two masters : for either he will 
hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to 
the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and 
mammon." 

You will either work for your earthly life, or for God. 

"Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your 
life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet 
for your body, what ye shall put on." 

Is not your life worth more than neat and raiment, 
and did not God give it to you ? 

Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither 
do they reap, and God feeds them. Man is not worse than 
a fowl. If God has given life to man, he will know how to 
feed him. And you know in your own heart that labor 
as you might, you can do nothing for yourselves. You 
cannot increase your time by one hour. And why take 
thought for raiment? The flowers of the fields do not toil 
or spin, yet even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed 
like them. If God so clothe the grass, which to-day is, 
and to-morrow is cut down, will He not clothe you? 

Therefore, take no thought of what ye shall eat and 
wear. All men need these things, and God knows your 
need. Neither take thought of the future. Live in the 
present. Take only thought how to do the will of your 
Father. Seek the one thing needful, the other things will 
come of themselves. Seek only to do the will of your 
Father. Take no thought for the morrow, for the morrow 
shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto 
the day is the evil thereof. Thus taught Jesus, and the 
truth of these words every man can test for himself in 
his own life. 



ANGER 



ANGER 
I. 

Wherein is the Sin of Uncharitableness 

1. "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old 
time : Thou shalt not kill ; and whosoever shall kill shall be 
in danger of the judgment : 

But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his 
brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judg- 
ment." Matthew, v, 21-22. 

2. If you feel a pain in your body, you know some- 
thing is wrong. You have either done what you ought not 
to have done, or you have failed to do what you ought to 
have done. Even so in the spiritual life. If you feel gloomy 
or irritable, you may know that something is wrong; you 
either love that which you ought not to love or do not love 
that which you ought to love. 

3. The sins of overeating, idleness, lust are evil in 
themselves. But the particular bad feature of these sins is 
that they lead to the worst sin — uncharitableness, or hatred 
of others. 

4. It is not the robberies, the murders, the executions 
that are terrible. What is a robbery? Passing of property 
from one person to another. Such things have always been 
and always will be, and there is nothing dreadful in that. 
What are murders, executions? Passing from life to death. 
This has always been and always will be nor is there any- 
thing dreadful in that. The most dreadful thing is not in 
the robberies and murders themselves, but dreadful are the 
feelings of men who hate one another, dreadful is the hatred 
of men causing them to rob, slay and execute. 



174 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

И. 

The Senselessness of Anger 

1. Buddhists say that all sins come from folly. This 
is true of all sins, but particularly of uncharitableness. The 
fisherman or the fowler is angry with the fish or bird that 
escapes him, and I am angry because a man has done that 
which he finds needful for himself, and not what I want him 
to do. Is it not equally foolish? 

2. A man has done you an injury, and you become 
angry. The thing is past, but malice against this man has 
settled in your heart, and whenever you think of him, you 
are angry. It is as though the devil had been standing watch 
at the door of your heart, and taking advantage of the mo- 
ment you let malice enter therein, had stolen into your heart 
and gained the mastery of it. Drive him out. And be care- 
ful in the future not to unlock the door that he might re- 
enter. 

3. There was once a foolish little girl who had lost her 
eyesight through illness and could not realize that she was 
blind. She was angry because wherever she went things 
were in her way. She did not think that she stumbled 
against things, but imagined that the things pushed against 
her. 

The same thing happens to people who become spirit- 
ually blind. They imagine that whatever happens to them 
is done against them with evil intent, and they are angry 
with people, failing to realize, even as the foolish child, that 
their woes are not due to other people, but due to their 
spiritual blindness and their living for their body. 

4. The higher a man's opinion of himself, the more 
easily he is annoyed with people. The humbler a man, the 
more kindly he is and less prone to anger. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 175 

5. Do not think that virtue is in courage or strength; 
if you can rise above anger, if you can forgive and learn to 
love him who has injured you, you are doing the highest 
thing that a man can aspire to. Persian wisdom. 

6. You may be unable to refrain from anger when 
offended or insulted ; but you can always refrain from show- 
ing what is in your heart in word or deed. 

7. Malice is always the child of impotence. 

8. If a man scold or insult thee, do not give in to him, 
refuse to enter the path whereon he would have thee stray, 
do not do as he is doing. Marcus Aurelius. 

III. 

Anger Against Fellow Men is Irrational Because the 
Same God Dwells in All Men 

1. "Take heed if you would strike at the devil in man 
lest you hit God." This saying means that when you cen- 
sure a man, you must remember that the spirit of God dwells 
within him. 

2. Watch yourself from early morning and say to 
yourself : I may have dealings with some insolent, insincere, 
tiresome or malicious men. We frequently come across 
such people. They do not know what is good and what is 
evil. But if I know well what is good and what is evil, if I 
realize that only that is evil to me which I commit myself, 
no evil man can harm me. No one can compel me to do evil. 
And if I remember that every man, if not in flesh and blood, 
then at least in spirit is my neighbor, and that in all of us 
dwells the same spirit of God, I am unable to be angry with 
a creature so close to me, for I know that we have been 
created one for another, just as one hand for the other or 
one foot for its mate, just as the eyes and the teeth help one 



176 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

another and the entire body. How then can I turn away 
from my neighbor, if contrary to his true nature, he com- 
mits evil against me? Marcus Aurelius. 

3. If you are angry with a man, it is a sign that you 
live the life of the body and not the life of God. If you 
lived the life of God, no one could harm you, because God 
cannot be harmed, and God, — the God within you, — cannot 
be angry. 

7. In order to live in harmony with people, remember 
when you meet people that not what you need is of im- 
portance, nor what he needs with whom you have come in 
contact, but that only which God who dwells in both of us 
requires from both. 

Just remember this when a feeling of unkindness to- 
wards another rises within you, and you will be immediately 
delivered from this feeling. 

8. Do not despise, do not beyond measure honor any 
man. If you despise a man, you fail to value right the good 
that is in him. If you honor a man beyond measure you 
require too much of him. In order to keep from error, think 
lightly of that in man (as in your own self) which is of the 
body, and esteem him as a spiritual creature in whom dwells 
the spirit of God. 

IV. 

The Less Man Thinks of Himself, the Kinder He Is 

1. It is said that a good man can not help being angry 
with evil men, but if this were so then the better a man is 
in comparison with others, the angrier he would be. But the 
contrary is true ; the better a man is, the gentler and kindlier 
he is to all people. This is because a good man remembers 
that he himself has done sinful things, and if he should be 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 177 

angry with others for being bad, he would have to be first 
of all angry with himself. Seneca. 

2. A rational man cannot be angry with mean and 
irrational people. 

" But how to keep from anger if they are thieves and 
rogues ? " 

And what is a thief and a rogue ? A man gone astray. 
Such a man is to be pitied and not to be angry with. If you 
can, persuade him that it is not well for him to live as he is 
living, and he will cease from evil. And if he does not yet 
realize this it is small wonder that he leads an evil life. 

But you might say that such men ought to be pun- 
ished. 

If a man's eyes are diseased and he loses his sight, you 
will not say that he must be punished for it. Then why 
would you punish a man who is deprived of what is more 
precious than his eye-sight, deprived of the greatest bless- 
ing, — of the knowledge how to live in accord with reason? 
Such men are not to be treated with anger, but with pity. 

Pity such unfortunates and see that their delusions do 
not arouse your anger. Remember how often you have 
erred yourself and committed sin, and rather be angry with 
yourself because there is so much unkindness and malice in 
your soul. Epictetus. 

3. You say that evil men are all around you. If you 
think so it is a sure sign that you are very bad yourself. 

4. Frequently men endeavor to show themselves off by 
noting the faults of others. They only show off their own 
weakness. 

The more intelligent and kindly a man is, the more 



178 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

good he sees in others — and the more foolrsh and unkind he 
is, the more defects he finds in others. 

5. It is true that it is difficult to be kind to corrupt 
men and to liars, particularly if they insult us, but these are 
just the people with whom we should be very kind, both for 
their sake and for our own. 

6. When you are angry with some one, you generally 
seek to justify your heart and try to see only that which is 
evil in him who is the object of your anger. This only in- 
creases your uncharitableness. But just the contrary is 
needful; the angrier you are, the more carefully you must 
search for that which is good in him who is the object of 
your anger, and if you find any good in him and learn to 
love him, you will not only relieve your heart but experience 
a peculiar joy. 

7. We pity a man who is ill clad, cold and starving, 
but how much more is a man to be pitied if he is a deceiver, 
a drunkard, a thief, a robber, a murderer? The first man 
is suffering in his body, but the other in that which is the 
most precious possession in the world — his soul. 

It is well to pity the poor and help them, but it is still 
better not to judge the vicious, but to pity and help them 
also. 

8. If you would reproach a man for unreasonable 
actions do not call his acts or words stupid, do not think or 
say that what he has done or said is senseless. On the con- 
trary, always assume that what he had meant to do or say 
was reasonable and endeavor to find it so. It is well to dis- 
cover those erroneous ideas which have deceived the man 
and demonstrate them to him so that he may decide by the 
exercise of his own reason that he was in error. It is only 
by reason that we can convince a man. And equally so we 
can convince a man of the immorality of his conduct by an 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 179 

appeal to his sense of morality. Do not assume that the 
most immoral man could not become a free and moral being. 

Kant. 

9. If you are angry with a man because he did that 
which you consider evil, try and learn why this man did 
that which you consider evil. And as soon as you under- 
stand this, you will find yourself unable to be angry with 
the man, just as one can not be angry with a stone for fall- 
ing to the ground instead of upwards. 

V. 

The Need of Love for Association with People 

1. In order that association with men be not painful to 
them and to yourself, do not seek to associate with them if 
you feel no love towards them. 

2. Only inanimate objects can be treated without love; 
one can hew down trees, make brick, and forge iron with- 
out love, but men cannot be handled without love, any 
more than bees can be handled without caution. The nature 
of the bees is such that if you treat them without caution 
you injure both the bees and yourself. It is the same with 
people. 

If you feel no love towards people, sit still, busy your- 
self with inanimate things, but leave people alone. If you 
treat people without love, before long you will be acting 
like a beast and not like a human being, and you will harm 
both yourself and the people. 

3. If you have been offended by a man, you may 
either retaliate like a dog, or a cow or a horse ; that is you 
may run away, if the offender be stronger than you, or 
growl and kick; or you may act like a rational human being 
and say to yourself : " This man has offended me, that is 



180 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

his business, but my business is to do that which I consider 
good, to do unto him as I would have him do unto me." 

4. When you see people dissatisfied with everything, 
and condemning everything, you feel like saying: "It is 
not the purpose of your life to realize all the absurdity of 
life, to condemn it, to be angry for a while and then die. 
That cannot be. Think a little. Your business is not to be 
angry, nor to condemn, but to labor in order to correct the 
evil that you see. But the evil that you see cannot be re- 
moved by your irritation, but only by the exercise of that 
good will to all men which dwells in you, and which you 
will feel the moment you refrain from drowning its voice." 

5. Acquire the habit of being dissatisfied with others 
only in the same way as you are dissatisfied with yourself. 
When you are dissatisfied with yourself, you are dissatisfied 
with your actions, not with your soul. The same way with 
your fellow man, judge his actions, but love him. 

6. In order not to do any evil to your fellow man, in 
order to love him, train yourself never to say anything bad 
either to him or of him, and in order to train yourself to do 
this, train yourself not to think anything evil of him, not to 
let a feeling of uncharitableness even enter your thoughts. 

7. Can you be angry with a man for having cankering 
sores ? It is not his fault that the sight of his sores annoys 
you. Even so act towards the faults of other people. 

But you might say that a man has his reason which 
should help him to recognize his faults and to correct them. 
This is true. But you also are endowed with reason and you 
can form the judgment that you must not be angry with a 
man because of his faults, but rather endeavor by rational 
and kindly treatment, without anger, impatience or haughti- 
ness, to awaken his conscience. 

8. There are men who love to be angry. They are al- 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 181 

ways busy with something and always pleased with an op- 
portunity to disconcert and to insult anyone who addresses 
them. Such men are apt to be very disagreeable. But you 
must remember that they are very unfortunate, strangers to 
the joy of a good disposition, and they should not be cen- 
sured, but pitied. 

9. Nothing can soften wrath, even justified wrath, as 
quickly as to remark to the angry person about the object 
of his anger : "He is so unfortunate." Even as the rain 
puts out the flames, so compassion acts upon wrath. 

10. If a man who means to do harm to his enemy only 
attempted to imagine vividly that he had already done as he 
desired ; and saw his enemy suffering in his body or in his 
spirit from wounds, illness, humiliation or poverty; if a 
man only attempted to imagine this and realized that all this 
evil was the work of his hands, the meanest man would 
cease from wrath after such vivid realization of his enemy's 
sufferings. Schopenhauer. 

11. God guard you from pretending to love and to 
have compassion if you feel no love or compassion. This 
is worse than hatred. But may God preserve you from fail- 
ing to catch and to keep alive the spark of compassion and 
divine love to your enemy when God sends it to you. There 
is nothing more precious than that. 

VI. 
Combating the Sin of Uncharitableness 

1. When I am condemned, it is disagreeable and pain- 
ful to me. How to be relieved of this feeling? First of all 
by humility : If you know your weakness you will not be 
angry when others point it out. It is unkind of them, but 



182 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

they are right. Then by the exercise of reason; inasmuch 
as in the end you remain just as you were, only if you had 
too high an opinion of yourself, you may have to change it. 
But principally by forgiveness. There is only one way to 
keep from hating those who injure us, — it is by doing good 
to them; though you may not be able to change them, you 
can curb yourself. Amiel. 

2. If you are a little angry, count up to ten before you 
do or say anything. If you are very angry count up to one 
hundred. If you think of this when you are angry, you will 
not need to count at all. 

3. The best beverage in the world is when you have an 
angry word on your very tongue, not to say it, but to gulp 
it down. Mohammed. 

4. The more a man lives for his soul, the less annoy- 
ance he has in all his dealings, and the less occasion for 
wrath. 

5. Think well and comprehend that every man acts as 
it seems best to him. If you will always think of this, you 
will never be angry with anyone, you will never reproach or 
scold anyone, for if it be better for another man to do that 
which displeases you, he is right and cannot do otherwise. 
But if he is in error and does that which is worse for him- 
self, he may be pitied, but you should not be angry with 
him - Epictetus. 

6. A deep river will not be muddied if you fling a 
stone into it. Even so with man. If a man is stirred up 
over insults he is not a river, but a puddle. 

7. Let us remember that we shall all return to the soil, 
and let us be meek and gentle. Saadi. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 183 

VII. 

Uncharitableness Harms Most of All Him Who 
Harbors It 

1. No matter how much harm anger causes to others, 
it is most harmful to him who harbors it. And anger is 
always more harmful than that which has provoked it. 

2. There are people who love to be angry, and rage 
and injure others without cause. We can understand why 
a miser injures other people. He desires to possess himself 
of that which belongs to others, in order to enrich himself. 
He injures people for his own material benefit. But a mean 
man injures others without any profit for himself. What 
madness ! Socrates. 

3. To do no harm even to enemies — herein is great 
virtue. 

He must certainly perish who encompasses the ruin of 
another. Do no evil. Poverty is no justification for evil. 
If you commit evil, you will be still more impoverished. 

Men may escape the effects of the malice of their 
enemies, but can never escape the consequences of their own 
sins. This shadow will haunt their footsteps until it ruins 
them. 

He who would not live in grief and sorrows, let him do 
no harm to others. 

If a man loves himself, let him do no evil no matter 
how slight it be. Hindu wisdom. 

4. To be virtuous is to be free in spirit. Men always 
angry with others, always fearing something and yielding to 
passions cannot be free in spirit. He who is not free in 
spirit, having eyes cannot see, having ears cannot hear, eat- 

Confucius. 



184 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

5. You think that the object of your wrath is your 
enemy, yet your own wrath which has entered your heart is 
your principal enemy, Therefore make peace with your 
enemy as quickly as possible, and put out of your heart 
that painful sentiment. 

6. Drop by drop a pail is filled ; even so man is filled 
with malice though he accumulate it little by little, if he 
permits himself to be angry with others. Evil returns to 
him who launches it even as dust thrown against the wind. 

, Neither in Heaven nor in the sea, neither in the bowels 
of the mountains nor anywhere in the world is there a spot 
where a man can rid himself of the malice that is in his 
heart. Remember this. Jamapada. 

7. In the Hindu law it is said : as surely as it is cold in 
the winter time and warm in the summer season, even as 
surely it is evil with the evil man, and good with the good 
man. Let no one engage in a quarrel, though he be offended 
and suffer, let no one give offense in word, deed or thought. 
All these things rob a man of his happiness. 

8. If I know that anger robs me of true happiness, 1 
can no longer consciously engage in enmities with others as 
I was wont to do, or glory in my anger, boast of it, puff it up, 
and find excuses for it, count myself important and others 
insignificant, lost or mad; I cannot — at the first intimation 
of rising anger — do otherwise but feel that I alone am to 
blame or refrain from seeking peace with those who are 
estranged from me. 

But this is not sufficient. If I know now that anger is 
evil for my soul, I also know that which misleads me into 
this evil. And that is my forgetting that the same spirit 
dwells in others as it does in me. I see now that this sepa- 
rateness from people, this recognition of self as being above 
others is one of the principal causes of human enmity. Re- 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 185 

membering my past life I see that I never permitted my 
anger to rise against those who I considered to be 
above myself, and that I never offended such people. But 
the slightest act of a man whom I believed to be beneath me, 
if it displeased me, aroused my anger and evoked an insult 
on my part, and the higher I felt myself above him, the 
more lightly I insulted him ; sometimes the mere thought of 
a man's inferior position led me to insult him. 

9. One winter time Francis of Assisi accompanied by 
his brother Leo, journeyed from Perugia to Porcionculo; it 
was very cold and they were shivering. Francis called to 
Leo who was walking ahead of him and said : "Brother 
Leo, God grant that our brothers might throughout the earth 
set the exemple of holy life ; but make a note that perfect joy 
is not yet in that." 

And a little while further Francis called again to Leo 
and said : 

"Also make note, brother Leo, that if our brothers heal 
the sick, drive out devils, give sight to the blind or bring 
back to life men four days in the grave, make note that 
neither therein is yet perfect joy." 

And still a little distance further Francis again called 
to Leo and said : "And make note once more, brother Leo, 
lamb of God, that if we learned to speak with the tongues of 
angels, if we comprehended the course of the stars, and if 
the treasures of the earth were revealed to us and we had 
opened to us all the mysteries of the life of birds, fishes, of 
all animals, people, trees, rocks and waters, make note that 
even therein would not be perfect joy." 



PRIDE 



PRIDE 

What makes it so difficult to find deliverance from sins 
is mainly the fact that they find support in errors. Pride is 
one of such errors. 



The Senseless Folly of Pride 

1. Proud people are so busy teaching others that they 
have no time to give thought to themselves, and why 
should they? They are good as they are, anyway, and 
therefore the more they teach others, the lower they sink 
themselves. 

2. Even as man cannot lift himself up, neither can man 
exalt himself. 

3. The meanness of pride is in the fact that people are 
proud of the things of which they should be ashamed ; 
riches, glory and honors. 

4. If you are stronger, wealthier, more learned than 
others, strive to serve others with the over-abundance you 
have as compared with them. If you are stronger, aid the 
weak; if you are more learned, help the ignorant ; if you are 
wealthier, help the poor. But proud people have different 
ideas. They think that if they have what others lack, they 
need not share it with them, but only parade it before them. 

5. It is bad if a man is angry with his brothers instead 
of loving them. But it is much worse if a man makes him- 
self believe that he is not the same kind of a man as other 
men, but superior to other people, and can therefore treat 
them otherwise than he would have them treat him. 

6. It is foolish for people to be proud of their face or 
of their body, but it is still greater folly to be proud of their 



190 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

parents, ancestors and friends, of their estate and of their 
race. 

The major portion of evil on earth is due to this fool- 
ish price. It is the cause of quarrels between men and men, 
families and families, and the cause of wars between na- 
tions. 

7. A man should not count himself wiser, nobler or 
better than other people, if for no other reason than be- 
cause no man can properly gauge his own mind or his vir- 
tues, and still less the true value of the mind and of the vir- 
tues of other people. 

8. Proud people consider themselves alone to be better 
and higher than others. But other proud people differ with 
them and count themselves still better. Still this fails to 
disconcert the proud ; they are convinced that all those who 
count themselves above them are in error, and that they 
alone are correct. 

9. It is amusing to see two proud men meet, each be- 
lieving himself to be superior to everybody else on earth. 

It is amusing to an outsider, but the two proud men are 
not amused ; they hate one another and are much perturbed. 

10. Folly may exist apart from pride, but pride never 
apart from folly. 

11. Learn from water in the depths of the sea and in 
mountain gorges; noisy are the shallow brooks, but the 
shoreless sea is silent and barely moves. 

Buddhist wisdom. 

12. The lighter and less dense a substance the more 
space it occupies. Even so with pride. 

13. A bad wheel makes more noise, an empty ear of 
corn is taller. Even so a bad and shallow man. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 191 

14. The more self-satisfied a man, the less ground is 
there in him for satisfaction. 

15. A proud man is as though covered with a coating 
of ice. No good sentiment can break through this coating. 

16. It is easier to enlighten the most ignorant man 
than a proud man. 

17. If the proud could only know what other people 
who make use of their pride for personal gain think of them 
they would cease to be proud. 

18. The prouder a man, the more foolish is he thought 
by those who make use of his pride, nor are they mistaken, 
because though they most flagrantly deceive him, he fails 
to see through it. Pride is invariably foolish. 

II. 

National Pride 

1. To count oneself better than everybody else is 
wrong and foolish. We all know this. To count one's fam- 
ily better than all others is still more wrong and foolish, 
though we frequently fail to recognize this, and see even 
some special merit in it. But to count one's nation better 
than all others, is the greatest possible folly. Yet not only 
do the people fail to consider this wrong, but on the con- 
trary, it is considered a great virtue. 

2. The beginning of pride is in loving self alone. Pride 
is unrestrained self-love. 

3. Men are an enmity one with another, though they 
know that it is wrong. And in order to deceive themselves 
and to drown the voice of their conscience they invent ex- 
cuses for their hostility. One of such excuses is that I am 
better than others and that the others are unable to under- 
stand this, and for this reason I have the right to be at odds 
with them; another excuse is that my family is better than 



192 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

theirs : the third is that my class is better than other classes ; 
and the fourth that my nation is better than all other na- 
tions. 

Nothing divides people so much as pride — personal 
pride, family pride, class pride and national pride. 

4. Proud people are not content to count their own 
persons superior to all others, they even count their nation 
superior to other nations ; as the Germans count the German 
nation, the Russians the Russian nation, the Poles the Polish 
nation, the Jews the Jewish nation. And harmful as is the 
pride of an individual, national pride is far more harmful. 
Millions upon millions of men perished from it in the past 
and are still perishing. 

III. 

Man Has No Rational Grounds for Exalting Himself 

Above Others, as the Same Spirit of God 

Dwells in All People 

1. Man counts himself better than other people only if 
he lives the life of the body. One body may be stronger, 
larger, better than another, but if a man lives the life of the 
spirit, he cannot count himself better than others, for the 
same soul dwells in all men. 

2. People have titles: Some "Your Excellency," 
others "Your Serene Highness," still others "Esquire," 
"Sir," "Your Worship," but there is only one title appro- 
priate to all and giving no offense. This title is : Brother, 
sister. 

And this title is good for the reason that it reminds us 
of the one Father in whom we are all brothers and sisters. 

3. Men consider some people superior to themselves, 
others beneath themselves. One need only remember that 
the same spirit dwells in all men to see how unjust this is. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 193 

4. A man is correct in thinking that there is no one in 
the world above him ; but he is wrong to think that there is 
even one man beneath him. 

5. It is well for man to respect himself because the 
spirit of God dwells in him. But woe to a man if he is 
proud of that which is merely human in him: his mind, his 
learning, honor, wealth or good deeds. 

6. A man is good if he holds high his divine spiritual 
I. But if he seeks to exalt his animal, vain, ambitious indi- 
vidual I above all others, he is abominable. 

7. If a man is proud of external distinctions he merely 
shows that he does not appreciate his inner worth com- 
pared with which all outward distinctions are as candles 
compared with the sun. 

8. One man cannot exalt himself above others. He 
cannot do so because the most valuable thing in man is his 
soul, and no one knows the value of the soul but God. 

9. Pride is something entirely different from a con- 
sciousness of human dignity. Pride increases with false 
honors and false popular adulations, but the consciousness 
of human dignity increases on the contrary with unde- 
served humiliation and condemnation. 

IV. 

Effects of the Error of Pride 

1. Pride defends not only itself but all the other sins 
of man. In exalting himself man loses sight of his sin, and 
his sins become a part of him. 

2. As the tall weeds that grow in the wheat field draw 
all the moisture and all the juices from the soil and shut off 
the grain from the sun, even so pride monopolizes all the 
strength of man and shuts him off from the light of truth. 



194 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

3. The consciousness of sin is often more useful to 
man than good deeds ; the consciousness of sin makes man 
humble, while a good deed frequently puffs up his pride. 

Baxter. 

4. Many are the penalties of pride, but the principal 
and the hardest is the fact that in spite of all their merits 
and in spite of all their endeavors, people do not love those 
that are proud. 

5. No sooner have I exulted over myself, saying how 
good am I, la ! I am in the ditch. 

6. If a man is proud he holds himself aloof from others 
and thus deprives himself of the greatest pleasure in life, a 
free and joyful association with all people. 

7. A proud man fears all criticism. And his fear is due 
to the fact that his grandeur is unstable, because it holds 
only until a tiny hole is pricked in his bubble. 

8. Pride would be intelligible if it pleased people and 
attracted them. But there is no more repulsive characteris- 
tic than pride. And yet people continue to cultivate pride. 

9. Self-assurance at first puzzles people. And for a 
time they ascribe to a self-assured man the importance 
which he attributes to himself. But they do not stay puzzled 
for any length of time. They are soon disenchanted, and 
repay with scorn for their disappointing experience. 

10. Man knows that he lives an evil life, but instead 
of changing it for the better, he endeavors to convince him- 
self that he is not the same kind of a man as other people, 
but is something superior to all others, and for this reason 
he must live exactly as he is living. Thus it comes that if 
men live an evil life they are apt to be proud as well. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 195 



Combating the Error of Pride 

1. There would be much less evil in the world but for 
pride. How can we deliver ourselves from this cause of 
evil? To deliver ourselves from this evil we have but one 
method — for each to labor with his own self. The errors of 
pride will be destroyed only when we destroy within our- 
selves this deep root of evil. While it lives in our heart, 
how can we hope that it will die in the hearts of others? 
Therefore one thing which we can do for our own happi- 
ness and that of others is to destroy in our hearts this source 
of evil from which the world suffers. No improvement is 
possible until each one of us commences to improve himself. 

Lamenais. 

2. It is very difficult to destroy human pride; you 
have hardly patched up one hole when you find it peering 
out of another, and when you close that, it comes out of a 
fresh one, and so on. Lichtenberg. 

3. The sin of pride may be destroyed only by the 
recognition of the oneness of the spirit that dwells in all 
men. Having realized this, a man can no longer count 
either himself or his family or even his nation as better and 
higher than all others. 

4. It is only then easy to live with a man when you 
neither regard him as better or higher than yourself nor 
yourself as better or higher than he. 

5. The main purpose of life is to improve your soul. 
But the proud man always considers himself perfectly good. 
This is what makes pride so harmful. It hinders man from 
attending to the principal purpose of life, namely making 
ourself better. 



196 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

6. Living for the soul is different from the worldly 
life in that he who lives for the soul cannot be satisfied 
with himself no matter how much good he accomplishes ; he 
believes that he has only done his duty, and that far from 
completely, and therefore can only criticise himself, but by 
no means be proud or be self-satisfied. 

7. "But he that is greatest among you shall be your 
servant ; for whosoever shall exalt himself-, shall be abashed 
and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted." 

Matthew, xxiii, 11-12. 

He who exalts himself in the opinion of men will be 
abased, because he that is accounted good, wise and kind, 
will not strive to be better, wiser and kindlier. 

But he who humbles himself shall be exalted, because 
he who accounts himself bad, will strive to be better, kind- 
lier, more reasonable. 

Proud people are as pedestrians walking on stilts in- 
stead of walking on foot. They are higher and the mud 
does not reach up to them and they take larger steps, but 
the trouble is that you cannot go very far on stilts and the 
chances are you will fall into mud and people will laugh at 
you. 

Even so it is with proud people. They are left behind 
by people who use no stilts to make themselves artificially 
taller, and they frequently fall into the mire and become an 
object of popular ridicule. 



INEQUALITY 



INEQUALITY 

The basis of human life is the spirit of God that 
dwells in man, which is one and the same in all people. 
Therefore men can not be otherwise than all equal among 
themselves. 

I. 

The Substance of the Error of Inequality 

1. In olden times people believed that men were born 
of various races, black and white, having descended from 
Ham and Japhet, and that some were meant to be masters 
and others to be slaves. People acknowledge this division 
of the human race into masters and slaves because they 
believed that this division was instituted by God. This 
crude and ruinous superstition still persists though in an- 
other form. 

2. We need only glance at the life of Christian na- 
tions divided into people who pass their lives in stupefying, 
murderous, unnecessary toil, and others who are steeped 
in idleness and all sorts of pleasures, to be amazed at the 
degree of inequality attained by the people professing the 
Christian faith, and particularly at the deceitful preaching 
of equality, while we maintain an order of life which is 
striking in its cruel and manifest inequality. 

3. One of the oldest and most profound of all faiths 
is the faith of the Hindus. The reason that it has never 
become universal faith and has failed to yield such fruit in 
the life of men as it should have yielded, is due to the 
fact that its teachers acknowledged men to be unequal and 
divided them into castes. People acknowledging them- 
selves unequal cannot have a true religion. 



200 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

4. One can understand people considering themselves 
unequal because one has a stronger body than another 
or is more alert, or knows more, or is kindlier than an- 
other. But these are not the usual reasons why some men 
are accounted higher than others. They are accounted 
unequal because one is named a count and another a 
peasant, because one wears expensive clothes and the other 
sandals. 

5. Men of our time realize already that the inequality 
of people is a superstition and in their hearts they con- 
demn it. But those who profit by this inequality cannot 
make up their minds to give it up, while those who suffer 
by it do not know how to destroy it. 

6. Men have fallen into the habit of dividing people 
in their minds into distinguished and obscure, noble and 
common, educated and uneducated, and they have grown 
so accustomed to this division that they really believe that 
some people are superior to others, that some people are 
to be more esteemed than others because they are classed 
by people in one group, while other people are classed in 
another group. 

7. The mere custom among rich men of addressing 
some people with familiarity and others with respect, of 
saluting some with a handshake and withholding their 
hand from others, of inviting some into their reception 
room and receiving others in the anteroom, shows how far 
they are from a recognition of the equality of all people. 

8. But for the. superstition of inequality men could 
never commit all those misdeeds which they have been in 
the habit of committing and still unceasingly commit simply 
because they will not admit all men to be equal. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 201 

II. 

Excuses for Inequality 

1. Nothing lends such a degree of assurance in the 
commission of evil acts as association, that is the combin- 
ing of a few people who have separated themselves from 
the rest into a social group. 

2. The blame for the inequality of people rests not 
so much on those who aggrandize themselves as upon those 
who admit their own inferiority before men who aggrand- 
ize themselves. 

3. We marvel at the remoteness of what is now 
termed Christianity from the preaching of Jesus, and at 
the remoteness of our life from Christianity. Could it 
be otherwise with a doctrine teaching people true equality, 
teaching that all men are the sons of God, that all men are 
brethren, that the life of all is equally sacred, — teaching 
this in the midst of people who believe that God divides 
men into masters and slaves, believers and unbelievers, 
rich and poor. Men accepting the teaching of Christ under 
these conditions could do only one of two things : either 
change their entire order of life completely, or corrupt the 
doctrine. They have chosen the latter. 

III. 

All Men are Brethren 

1. It is foolish for one man to count himself better 
than others; it is still more foolish for a whole nation to 
count itself better than others. Yet every nation, the ma- 
jority of people in every nation, lives in this dreadful, 
absurd and harmful superstition. 

2. A Jew, a Greek, a Roman might well defend the 
independence of his own nation by killing, and seek by 



202 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

killing also to subjugate other nations, firmly convinced, 
as each of them was, that his was the one true, good, 
God-loved nation, while the others were Philistines or 
barbarians. The people in the Middle Ages could hold 
similar beliefs, or even recently, at the end of the last 
century. But we can no longer believe it. 

3. The man who understands the meaning and the 
purpose of life can not but feel his equality and brother- 
hood with men not only of his own, but of all nations. 

4. Every man, before he is an Austrian, a Serb, a 
Turk or a Chinaman, is a man, that is a rational loving 
being, whose calling is to fulfill his purpose as man in the 
short span of time allotted to him in this world. And this 
purpose is one and a very definite one; to love all people. 

5. A child meets another child, irrespective of class, 
faith and nationality, with the same friendly smile ex- 
pressive of gladness. But an adult, who ought to be more 
sensible than a child, before meeting a man wonders to 
what class, faith or nationality he belongs, and adjusts 
his attitude towards him in accordance with his class, faith 
or nationality. No wonder Christ said: "be ye even as 
little children." 

6. Christ revealed to people that the division between 
your own and foreign nations is a delusion and an evil. 
And realizing this a Christian cannot harbor feelings of 
ill will towards foreign nations, nor can he as formerly, 
excuse cruel acts against foreign nations with the plea 
tlu.t other nations are worse than his. The Christian can 
not help knowing that this distinction between his and 
other nations is an evil, that this distinction is an error, 
and therefore he can no longer, as formerly, consciously 
serve this error. 

The Christian can not but know that his happiness 






THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 203 

is interwoven not only with the happiness of his own na- 
tion, but with that of all the people in the world. He 
knows that his union with all the people in the world can- 
not be interrupted by frontier lines or proclamations about 
belonging to this or that nation. He knows that all people 
everywhere are brothers and therefore equal. 

IV. 
All Men are Equal 

1. Equality is the recognition that all the people in 
the world have the equal right to enjoy all the natural bless- 
ings of the world, equal right to the blessings proceeding 
from social life, and equal right to the respect of their 
human personality. 

2. The law of the equality of men embraces all moral 
laws ; it is the point which no laws can reach, but which 
all of them strive to approach. £ Carpenter. 

3. The real *T" of a man is spiritual. And this "I" 
is the same in all. How then can men be unequal? 

4. "Then came to him his Mother and his brethren, 
and could not come at him for the press. 

And it was told him by certain, which said, Thy 
Mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee. 

And he answered and said unto them, My Mother and 
my brethren are these which hear the world of God and 
do it." The words of Jesus mean that a rational man, 
realizing his calling, can not make distinctions between 
people nor recognize the superiority of any set of people 
to other people. 

5. The sons of Zebedee sought to be as wise as Jesus 
Christ. He said to them: Why do you need this? You 
can live and be born again of the Spirit even as I ; there- 



204 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

fore if you seek to be as I am, you do so to become greater 
than others. But according to my teaching there are no 
great or small, no important or unimportant. Rulers who 
have dominion over people, require to be greater and more 
important than other people, but you have no need of 
this, because according to my teaching it is better for man 
to be less than others, rather than greater than others. 
According to my teaching he who is least is the greatest. 
According to my teaching, you must be the servant of all. 

6. No one as well as the children carries out in life 
the true idea of equality. And how criminally wicked are 
their elders when they violate this sacred feeling of child- 
hood, teaching them that there are on the one hand prom- 
inent men, wealthy men and celebrities who must be treated 
with deference, and on the other, servants, laborers and 
beggars who must be treated patronizingly. "He who shall 
offend one of these little ones. . . . " 

7. We are occasionally dissatisfied with life because 
we do not seek blessings there where they are granted us. 

Therein is the cause of all errors. We have been 
granted the peerless gift of life with all its joys. And we 
say: the joys are too few. We are given the supreme joy 
of life — association with the people of the whole world, 
and we say: I want a peculiar blessing all to myself, to my 
family, to my nation. 

8. Be a man of our day ever so well educated or 
learned, or be he a common laborer, be he a philosopher, 
a scientist, or be he an ignoramus, and be he rich or 
poor — every man in this present age knows that all people 
have an equal right to life and to the blessings of the world, 
that one set of people is no worse and no better than an- 
other, that all men are equal. Yet every man lives as 
though he did not know this. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 205 

So powerful is the delusion of the inequality of men 
which still persists in the world. 

V. 

Why are All Men Equal? 

1. No matter what the people are, no matter what 
their fathers and grandfathers were, they are all alike as 
two drops of water, because in them all dwells the spirit 
of God. 

2. Only he who does not know that God dwells in him 
can count some men more important than others. 

3. When a man loves some people above others, he 
loves with a human love. Before the love of God all 
men are equal. 

4. The identical feeling of adoration which we ex- 
perience at the sight of a human creature either newly 
born or passed into the Beyond, irrespective of the class 
to which it belongs, demonstrates to us our innate con- 
sciousness of the equality of men. 

5. "Be careful in attempting to strike at the devil 
in man, lest you hit God within him." This means that 
while we criticize a man we must not forget that the spirit 
of God dwells within him. 

6. To count all men equal to yourself does not mean 
that you are as strong, as skillful, as alert, as wise, as 
well educated, as good as others, but it means that there 
dwells in you something which is more important than 
anything else, and that this same thing dwells also in all 
other people, and it is the spirit of God. 

7. To say that men are unequal is like saying that 
the fire in a stove, in a conflagration or in a candle is 
not the same fire. In every man dwells the spirit of God. 



206 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

How can we make a distinction between those who carry 
in them the same spirit of God ? 

One fire is blazing, another is just beginning to glow, 
but it is the same fire, and we must handle all fires alike. 

VI. 

The Recognition of the Equality of All Men is Prac- 
ticable, and Humanity Gradually Approaches 
this Goal 

1. People labor to establish equality of all men be- 
fore their laws, but ignore the equality which is established 
by the eternal law and which is violated by human laws. 

2. Should we not strive towards such an order of 
life where elevation by the way of a social ladder would 
not fascinate people, but terrify them, because each eleva- 
tion deprives man of one of life's greatest blessings — equal 
attitude towards all people. Ruskin. 

3. Some say that equality is impossible. We must, 
however, assert that on the contrary it is inequality which 
is impossible among Christians. 

We cannot make a tall man equal to a short one, a 
strong man to a weakling, a quick witted man to a dullard, 
an ardent man to one who is cold, but we can and must 
equally esteem and love the small and the great, the strong 
and the weak, the wise and the foolish. 

4. It is said that some men will always be stronger, 
others weaker, some wiser, others more foolish. For this 
very reason that some are stronger and wiser than others, 
says Lichtenberg, do we particularly need equal rights for 
all people. If in addition to inequalities of mind and 
strength there existed also inequalities of rights, the oppres- 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 207 

sion of the weak by the powerful would be still more 
rampant. 

5. Do not believe it if you are told that equality is 
impossible, unless in some remote future period. 

Learn of the children. Equality is now possible with 
all men. In your own life you can introduce equality 
among all men with whom you come in contact. 

Only withhold undue reverence from those who count 
themselves great and mighty, and show in particular the 
same measure of respect to those who are considered un- 
important and inferior as you do to other people. 

VII. 

He Who Lives the Life of the Spirit Counts 
All Men Equal 

1. Only those who live the life that is merely of the 
body can consider some men superior, others inferior and 
all unequal one to another. If a man lives the life of the 
spirit, inequality cannot exist for him. 

2. Christ revealed to men, what they always had 
known, that men are equal among themselves, equal be- 
cause the same spirit dwells in them. But since the earliest 
times men have divided themselves into classes — on the 
one hand men of position and wealth and on the other 
the toilers and the poor. And although they know that 
they are all equal, they live as though they did not know 
it, and assert that all men can not be equal. Do not believe 
it. Go learn of the little ones. 

The infant esteems the most important man in the 
land the same as an ordinary person. Do thou likewise. 
Meet all people with love and kindliness, but all equally. 
If men exalt themselves, do not esteem them more highly 



208 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

than others. If others are humbled by men try to respect 
these humbled ones particularly as equal to all other men. 
Remember that in them all equally dwells the spirit of 
God, than which we know nothing higher. 

3. Love to a Christian is a sentiment which craves 
blessings for all men. But with many people the word 
"love" signifies a feeling entirely contrary to this. 

In the minds of many people who acknowledge life in 
the animal personality only, love is that feeling by virtue 
of which a mother for the good of her own child, hires a 
wet nurse and deprives another child of its mother's milk; 
the same feeling, by virtue of which a father robs starving 
people of the last piece of bread, in order to satisfy his 
own children ; that feeling by virtue of which he who loves 
a woman suffers from that love and compels her likewise 
to suffer, and then entices her into sin or ruins both her 
and himself out of jealousy; the same feeling, by virtue 
of which men associated in one group do injury to people 
foreign or hostile to that group; that feeling by virtue of 
which a man toils painfully at some business he pretends 
to "love" and by it causes woe and suffering to the people 
around; that feeling by virtue of which men resent an in- 
sult to the land wherein they live and cover blood-reeking 
battlefields with the bodies of slain and maimed men, both 
of their own and of hostile allegiance. 

These feelings are not love, because the men harboring 
them do not acknowledge all men as equals. And without 
acknowledging all men as equals there can be no true love 
towards people. 

4. It is impossible to harmonize inequality with love. 
Love is only then love when like the rays of the sun it 
falls equally upon all within the reach of its radiance. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 209- 

But when it falls upon some and excludes others, it is 
no longer love but merely something that resembles it. 

5. It is difficult to love all people alike, but just be- 
cause it is different it need not deter us from striving after 
it. All that is good is difficult. 

6. The less equal are men according to their qualities, 
the more we must strive to treat them equally. 

7. In you, in me and in everyone dwells the God of 
life. You are wrong to be angry with me, to resent my 
advances ; know that we are all equal. Mahmud Hasha. 



FORCE 



FORCE 

One of the main cause: of human misery is the erron- 
eous idea that some men may by force order or improve the 
life of ::г гг; 

Coercing Others 

1. The delusion that some men may by :;r:e :rier the 
life of other men who are like them is not due to some one 
having specially invented it, but to men, who yielding them- 
selves up to their passions first egan to coerce people and 
then endeavored to invent some excuse for their violence 

2. Men see that there is i:mething wrong with their 
life and endeavor in some way to improve it. But thert is 
only one thing that is in their power which they may im- 
prove, namely, their own self. But to improve oneself, one 
must first admit that one lacks goodness and this is annoy- 
ing. And they turn all meu attention away from that which 
is always in their power — self, to iternal conditions 
that are not in their power, and a change in which has as 
little chance tc imprc e the state :" man, as shaking the wine 
and pouring it into another .he quah 

the wine. Thus a that activity v futile, to 

start with, and mo harmful ed think of cor- 

recting others), malicious Г people hindering the common 
good may be murdered ) and finally virion 

3. Some mean by the use of force to compel oth~ 
live a good life. And they are the first to set ar. 

ample in the use of violence. th themselves, in- 

stead of endeavoring to emerge from it, they instruct others 
not to be soi'ed. 

4. The delusion of bringing about order among people 

tot urious because it passes from ge: 



214 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

tion to generation. People who have been raised under the 
order of violence, do not ask themselves whether it is neces- 
sary or proper to coerce others, but are firmly convinced 
that people cannot live without the use of force. 

5. To order the life of other people is easy for the 
reason that if you fail to order it aright, others, and not 
yourself, will be the sufferers. 

6. Some think that one can order the life of others only 
by force, yet force brings no order into human life, but only 
disorder. 

7. Only he who does not believe in God can believe 
that men, who are of his own kind, may order his life so as 
to make it better. 

8. The delusion that man can order the life of others is 
all the more dreadful because under this belief the less moral 
a man is the more highly he is esteemed. 

9. The existing order is sustained not by force, but by 
public opinion. Force violates public opinion. Therefore, 
force weakens and undermines that which it would sustain. 

10. When men say that all should live in peace, that no 
one should be injured, yet use force to compel people to live 
according to their will, it is as though they said: do as we 
say, but not as we do. Such men may be feared, but they 
cannot be trusted. 

11. As long as men are unable to withstand the tempta- 
tions of fear, intoxication, covetousness, ambition and van- 
ity, which enslaves some and deprave others, they will al- 
ways form a society of deceivers and users of force on the 
one hand, and of victims of deceit and force on the other. 
To avoid this, moral effort is required on the part of every 
man. Men realize this in the depth of their own hearts, but 
they seek to attain without a moral effort that which can be 
attained only through a moral effort. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 215 

To determine by you own effort your attitude to the 
world, and to maintain it, to establish your attitude to man 
on the basis of the eternal principle of doing unto others as 
you would that others do unto you, to subjugate those evil 
passions within that enslave us to other people, to be no 
man's master, no man's slave, not to pretend, not to lie, not 
to recede for fear of favor from the demands of the highest 
law of your conscience — all this requires effort. But if you 
imagine that the establishment of some kind of order will 
in some mysterious manner lead all men, including myself, 
to attain justice and all sorts of virtues, and, if in order to 
attain them, you repeat — without mental effort — what the 
men of some one party choose to say, if you hustle, argue, 
lie, dissemble, quarrel, fight — all these things come of their 
own accord and require no effort. And now comes the doc- 
trine of bettering our social life by means of a change of 
external orders. According to this doctrine men can attain 
without effort the fruits of effort. This doctrine has been 
and is responsible for terrible misery and more than any- 
thing else holds back the true progress of mankind towards 
perfection. 

II. 

The Use of Force in Combating Evil is Inadmissible, 

Because the Conception of Evil Varies with 

Different People 

1. It would seem to be clear beyond a doubt that since 
every one has a different conception of evil, to fight what 
various people consider evil with another evil, would serve 
to increase evil rather than to diminish it. If John consid- 
ers that which is done by Peter as evil, and he thinks it 
right to do evil to Peter, Peter may with the same right do 
evil to John, and thus evil can be only increased. 



216 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

It is marvelous that men should understand the rela- 
tions between stars and fail to understand this simple truth. 
Why is it so? Because men believe in the beneficial effect 
of force. 

2. If I may by the use of force compel one man to do 
that which I believe to be good, even so can another man by 
force compel me to do that which he thinks is good, al- 
though our ideas of what is good may be entirely contrary 
to one another. 

3. The doctrine that man may not and must not use 
force for the sake of that which he considers good, is fair if 
alone for the reason that the ideas of good and evil differ 
with all men. That which one man considers evil may be an 
imaginary evil (some people may consider it good) ; but the 
force used for the sake of destroying this evil — chastise- 
ment, maiming, deprivation of liberty, death, is an evil be- 
yond any doubt. 

4. The question how to settle the constantly current 
disputes of people as to what constitutes good and evil is 
answered by the teaching of Christ : since man cannot indis- 
putably establish what is evil, he must not by the use of force, 
which is an evil, overcome that which he believes to be 
evil. 

5. The principal harm of the fallacy of ordering the 
lives of others by the use of force lies in the fact that the 
moment you admit the propriety of using force upon one 
man for the benefit of many there are no limits to the evil 
that may be wrought for the sake of the same proposition. 
Upon this very principle were based the torture, inquisition, 
and slavery of olden times, and are now based the present 
day wars from which millions are perishing. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 217 

III. 

The Inefficiency of Force 

1. To compel people by force to refrain from doing 
evil is like damming a river and feeling pleased with the 
shallow place below the dam. In due course the river will 
overflow the dam and will run as of yore, and evil doers will 
not cease from evil, but merely await their opportunity. 

2. He who forces us deprives us of our rights and we 
hate him. We love those who know how to persuade us 
and count them our benefactors. It is not the wise man, but 
the brutal and unenlightened man who takes recourse to 
force. In order to use force, many accessories are re- 
quired. To persuade, we need none. He who feels enough 
power within himself to dominate minds needs not take re- 
course to force. Only those take recourse to force who feel 
their impotence to persuade people of their necessity. 

Socrates. 

3. To compel people by force to that which seems to 
me good is the best means to create in them a repugnance 
against that which seems to me good. 

4. Every man knows in his heart how hard it is so to 
change one's life as to become such as one would be. But in 
the case of others it seems to us as though all we have to do 
is to command and to terrify, and others will become such 
as we would have them be. 

5. Force is the instrument by which ignorance compels 
its followers to do things against the inclination of their 
nature; and like the attempt to force water above its level, 
the moment the instrument ceases to act, its effects cease as 
well. There are only two ways of directing human activi- 
ties : one is to gain the inclination and to convince the reason- 
ing, and the other to compel a man to act against his inclina- 



218 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

tions and against his reasoning. The first method is proved 
by experience and is always crowned by success, and the 
other is employed by ignorance and always results in disap- 
pointment. When a baby is crying for its rattle, it means to 
get it by force. When the parents spank their children it 
is to force them to be good. When a drunken husband beats 
his wife, his idea is to correct her by force. When people 
punish others, it is to make the world better by the employ- 
ment of force. When one man goes to law with another, 
it is done to obtain justice by the use of force. When the 
preacher speaks of the terror of the tortures of hell, his pur- 
pose is to attain the desired condition of soul by force. And 
it is a marvel that ignorance should persist in guiding man- 
kind on the same path of violence which is bound to lead 
to disappointment. Combes. 

6. Every man knows that all force is evil, and yet, to 
prevent people from using force, we cannot invent anything 
better, while demanding the highest respect for ourselves, 
than to adopt the most terrible forms of violence. 

7. The fact that it is possible to make men amenable 
to justice by the use of force, does not yet prove that it is 
just to subject people to force. Pascal. 

IV. 

The Delusion of an Order of Life Based on Force 

1. How strange is the delusion that men may force 
others to do that which they consider good for them, and not 
that which these latter consider good for themselves, and yet 
all the misfortunes of life are based upon this delusion. One 
set of people compels the others to pretend that they en- 
joy doing the things prescribed for them, and threatens them 
with all sorts of violence should they discontinue this pre- 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 219 

tense, and they are thoroughly convinced that they are do- 
ing something useful and worthy of praise by all men, even 
by those whom they force to do their will. 

2. So' many victims have been sacrificed upon the altar 
of the god of force that twenty planets as large as the earth 
might be peopled with these victims, and has the most in- 
significant part of the purpose been ever attained thereby? 

Nothing has been attained, excepting that the condition 
of the people has steadily grown worse. And still force re- 
mains the deity of the mob. Before its blood-reeking altar 
mankind seems to have resolved to kneel to the sound of the 
drum, to the cannonading of guns and the moaning of bleed- 
ing humanity. д % Ballon. 

3. "Self preservation is the first law of nature" — 
maintain the opponents of the law of non-resistance. 

"Agreed, what do you infer from it?" I inquire. 

"I infer that self defense against everything which 
threatens with destruction becomes a law of nature. And 
from this must be deduced that struggle, and as the result of 
every struggle, the ruin of the weakest, is a law of nature, 
and this law beyond doubt justifies war, violence and re- 
tribution; so that the direct deduction from and the con- 
sequence of the law of self preservation is that self-defense 
is lawful, and therefore the doctrine of non-employment 
of force is erroneous, being contrary to nature and inapplic- 
able to the conditions of life upon earth." 

I agree that self preservation is the first law of nature, 
and that it leads to self-defense. I admit that following the 
example of the lower forms of life human beings fight with 
one another, injure and even slay one another under the pre- 
tence of self-defense and retribution. Rut I see therein 
only that human beings, the majority of them unfortunately, 



220 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

in spite of the fact that the law of their higher human na- 
ture is open to them, still continue to live according to the 
law of animal nature and thus deprive themselves of the 
most effective means of self-defense which they could use 
if they only chose to follow the human law of love, instead 
of the animal law of force, — namely, returning good for 
evil - A. Ballou. 

4. It is clear that violence and murder arouse the 
wrath of a man, and his first impulse is naturally to> oppose 
violence and murder to violence and murder. Such actions, 
although akin to animal nature and unreasonable, are not 
absurd or self-contradictory. It is different, however, with 
attempts to find excuses for these actions. The moment 
those who have the ordering of our lives attempt to justify 
these actions by basing them upon reason, they are com- 
pelled to build up a series of cunning and involved fictions 
in order to hide the senselessness of such attempts. 

The principal example of such an excuse is that of an 
imaginary robber who tortures and slays innocent persons 
in your presence. 

"You might sacrifice your own self for the sake of your 
belief in the unlawfulness of force, but here you sacrifice 
the life of another" — so say the defenders of force. 

But, in the first instance, such a robber is an excep- 
tional circumstance. Many people may live to be a hundred 
years old without meeting a robber engaged in slaying inno- 
cent people before their very eyes. Why should I base my 
rule of life on such a fiction? Discussing real life and not 
fictions, we see something entirely different. We see that 
other people, and we ourselves, commit the most cruel deeds, 
not singly like the imaginary robber, but always in league 
with others, and not because we are criminals, like the rob- 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 221 

ber, but because we are subject to the superstition of the 
lawfulness of force. Then again we see that the most cruel 
actions do not proceed from the imaginary robber, but from 
people who base their rule of life on the supposition of the 
said robber. A man considering the problems of life can- 
not help seeing that the cause of evil among men is not in 
this imaginary robber, but in the human errors, one of the 
most cruel of which is that we may do actual evil in the 
name of imaginary evil. A man who realizes this and ad- 
dresses himself to the cause of evil, to the task of eradicating 
error in himself and in others, will see unfolding before his 
eyes so vast and fruitful a field that he will never compre- 
hend why he should need the fiction of the imaginary robber 
for his activities. 

V. 

Ruinous Effects of the Superstition of Force 

1. That evil which men think to ward off with force is 
incomparably less than the harm they do to themselves when 
defending themselves by force. 

2. Not Christ alone, but all the sages of the world, 
Brahmins, Buddhists, Greeks, taught that rational men 
should not repay evil with evil, but with good. But men 
who live by force say that this cannot be done, that this 
would make life worse instead of better. And they are 
right, as far as they are concerned, but not as far as those 
who suffer from force are concerned. In the worldly sense 
it would be worse for the former, but it would be better for 
all. 

3. The entire teaching of Christ is to love others. To 
love others means to treat them as you would that others 
treat you. Since no one wishes to be forcibly dealt with, 
then treating others as you would be treated by them, you 



222 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

can under no circumstances use force upon them. To say 
then, as confessing and practicing the teachings of Christ, 
that we Christians may use force on people is like inserting 
a key into the lock above its proper turning place and claim- 
ing that you use the key in accordance with its purpose. 
Without admitting that under no circumstances man may 
use force on others, all the teachings of Christ are empty 
words. 

With this conception of his teachings, you can torture, 
rob, slay millions in wars, as is now being done by people 
calling themselves Christians, but you cannot say that you 
are a Christian. 

4. It is hard to follow the doctrine of non-resistance, 
but is it easy to follow the teaching of struggle and retribu- 
tion. 

To answer this question open the pages of the history 
of any nation, and read the description of any one of a 
hundred thousand battles which men have fought in the 
name of the law of combat. Several thousand million men 
have been killed in these battles, so that more lives have 
been lost, more pain has been suffered in any one of these 
battles than might have been lost in the aggregate in ages of 
non-resistance to evil. a. Ballon. 

5. The employment of force arouses the resentment of 
people, and he who uses force for self-defence, not only 
fails, as a rule, to protect himself, but even exposes himself 
to greater dangers, so that to use force for self -protection 
is unreasonable and ineffective. 

6. Each act of force merely irritates man, instead of 
subjugating him. So that it is clear that you cannot correct 
people by force. 

7. If it were asked how man could strip himself en- 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 223 

tirely of moral responsibility and commit the most evil deeds 
without a feeling of guilt, a more effective means could not 
be devised than the superstition that force can promote the 
well-being of people. 

8. The error that some men may by force order the 
life of others is particularly harmful because men falling 
into this delusion cease to distinguish good from evil. 

9. Force creates only a semblance of justice, but re- 
moves man from the possibility of living justly, without vio- 
lence. 

10. Why is Christianity so degraded? Why has moral- 
ity fallen so low ? There is but one cause : belief in the 
rule of force. 

11. We fail to see all of the wickedness of force, be- 
cause we submit to it. 

Force, by its very nature, inevitably leads to murder. 

If one man says to another: "Do this, and if you re- 
fuse, I will force you to do my will," it can only mean that 
if you fail to do exactly as I say, I shall in the end kill you. 

12. Nothing so delays the establishment of the King- 
dom of Heaven on earth, as the determination of people to 
establish it by means of deeds contrary to its spirit : namely, 
by force. 

VI. 

Only Through Non-Resistance to Evil Will Humanity 
Be Led to Substitute the Law of Love for 
the Law of Force 
1. The meaning of the words: "You have heard it 
said, An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. But I say 
unto you: do not resist evil. And if a man strike. . . . ," 
is perfectly clear and requires no explanation or interpreta- 
tion. You cannot understand it otherwise but that Christ 



224 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

rejected the former law of force: eye for eye, tooth far 
tooth, and thereby rejected the entire world order based on 
that law, that he substituted a new law of love of all people 
without distinction, instituting thereby a new order of the 
world, based not upon force, but upon the law of love for all 
men without distinction. And some men having grasped the 
true significance of this teaching, foreseeing that an appli- 
cation of this teaching of life would destroy all the benefits 
and advantages enjoyed by them, crucified Christ, and still 
are crucifying His disciples. Other men, however, likewise 
having grasped the true meaning of His teaching, were 
content in times past and are content to this day to mount 
the Cross, thereby hastening the time when the world will 
be ruled by the law of love. 

2. The teaching of not opposing force to evil is not 
some new law, but merely points people to an unjustifiable 
transgression of the law of love, merely demonstrates to 
people that the admission of any act of violence against one's 
neighbor, either for the purpose of retribution, or to save 
oneself or one's neighbor from evil is incompatible with 
love. 

3. Nothing so hinders the improvement in the life of 
people as the desire to improve it by acts of force. And 
force used by one set of men upon others more than any- 
thing else turns the people from the one thing that could im- 
prove their life, namely, the desire to become better. 

4. Only those men who find it profitable to order the 
life of others can believe that force can improve the life of 
others. But people who have fallen into this delusion ought 
to see clearly that human life can change for the better only 
as the result of an inner spiritual change, and never as the 
result of force employed upon them by others. 

5. The less a man is satisfied with himself or with his 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 225 

inner life, the more he manifests himself in the external, in 
the public life. 

In order not to fall into this error, man should under- 
stand and remember that he has as little call or right to 
order the life of others, as others have to order his, and that 
he and all people are called only to strive after their inner 
perfection, all men have the right to this one thing and only 
by this alone can they influence the life of others. 

6. Frequently men lead an evil life merely because 
they attend to ordering the life of others instead of their 
own. They seem to think that their life is only an individual 
one, and therefore, less important than the life of many, of 
all. But they forget that while they have the power of 
ordering their own life, they cannot order the life of others. 

7. If the time and energy spent by people now upon 
ordering the life of others were spent upon combating their 
own sins, that which they strive for, namely, the attainment 
of the best possible order of life, would come about very 
speedily. 

8. Man has power only over himself. He can order 
only his own life as he finds good and proper. And yet al- 
most everybody is busy ordering the life of others, and 
because of that very anxiety to order the life of others, they 
in turn submit to life as ordered for them by others. 

9. Ordering the common life of men by means of acts 
supported by force, without regard to their inner perfecting, 
is like reconstructing a fallen building with rough hewn 
stones and without the use of cement. No matter how you 
pile them up, you achieve nothing, and the structure must 
fall. 

10. When Socrates, the philosopher, was asked where 
he was born, he replied : "On earth." When he was asked 
what country he came from, he replied : "The Universe." 



226 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

We must remember that before God we are all the resi- 
dents of one and the same earth, and that we are all under 
the supreme law of God. 

The law of God is always the same for all people. 

11. No man can be either an instrument or a purpose. 
Therein is his worth. And as he cannot dispose of himself 
at any price (which would be against his dignity), neither 
has he the right to dispose of the life of others ; in other 
words, he is bound to acknowledge the dignity of the human 
calling in every man, and therefore must express his re- 
spect to every man. Kant. 

12. For what have men reason, if you cannot influence 
them, excepting by the use of force ? 

13. Men are rational beings, and therefore can live by 
the guidance of reason and eventually are bound to substi- 
tute free agreement for the use of force. But each act of 
force postpones this time. 

14. How strange. Man is embittered by evil proceed- 
ing from without, from others, evil which he cannot prevent, 
yet does not fight against the evil within himself, although 
this is subject to his power. Marcus Aurelius. 

15. Men can be taught by the exposition of truth and 
by good example, but not by being forced to do that which 
they do not wish to do. 

16. If men only sought to save themselves, instead of 
saving the world; to free themselves instead of freeing 
humanity; how much could they accomplish for the salva- 
tion of the world and for the freedom of humanity. 

Hertzen. 

17. By fulfilling his inner purpose and by living for 
his soul, man unconsciously and most effectively works for 
the betterment of public life. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 227 

18. In their youth men believe that it is the calling of 
mankind to strive constantly after perfection, and that it is 
possible, even easy, to correct all mankind, to destroy all 
vices and misery. These dreams are not ridiculous, on the 
contrary, they contain more truth than the ideas of old men, 
who are steeped in error, when these men, after living a 
life contrary to man's nature, undertake to advise others to 
wish for nothing, to strive for nothing, and to live like 
animals. 

The mistake of these youthful dreams is only in the 
proneness at youth to relegate the striving after perfection 
of self and soul to others. 

Attend to your business in life, perfecting and improv- 
ing your soul, and be convinced that only thus will you most 
fruitfully assist the improvement in the common life. 

19. If you see that the social order is evil, and you 
desire to correct it, remember that there is only one way: 
that is for all people to become better ; but to make all people 
better you have only one means : become better yourself. 

20. In every case where force is used, apply reason- 
able suasion, and you will seldom suffer loss in the worldly 
sense, and will be far ahead spiritually. 

21. Our life would be beautiful if we only could see 
that which violates our happiness. But our happiness is 
mostly violated by the superstition that force can give hap- 
piness. 

22. The security and the happiness of the society is 
assured only by the morality of its members. But morality 
has for its foundation love, which excludes force. 

23. The imminent change of the order of life for the 
people living in our Christian world consists in the substitu- 
tion of the law of love for that of force, and in the recogni- 



228 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

tion of the fact that the blessedness of life based not upon 
force and the fear of it, but upon love, is possible and can 
be easily attained, and such change can never come by force. 

24. One can live according to Christ, and one can live 
according to Satan. Living according to Christ is living 
like human beings, loving people, doing good and repaying 
good for evil. Living according to Satan is living like 
beasts, loving self alone, and repaying evil with evil. The 
more we try to live according to Christ, the more love and 
happiness will reign among men. The more we live accord- 
ing to Satan, the more miserable will be our life. 

The commandment of love shows two paths: on the 
one hand, the path of truth, the path of Christ, which is the 
path of life and good, — and on the other, the path of de- 
lusion, the path of hypocrisy, the path of death ; and though 
it may appear terrible to relinquish the use of force in self- 
defence, we know that in this yielding is the way' of salva- 
tion. 

To relinquish the use of force does not mean to give up 
the custody of your life, of your labors and those of your 
neighbors, but merely to guard them in a way not contrary 
to reason and love. Guard the life and the labors of self 
and of others by endeavoring to awaken sentiments of kind- 
liness in the attacking wretch. To be able to do this, man 
must be good and reasonable himself. If I see, for in- 
stance, that one man intends to kill another, the best thing 
that I can do is to place myself in the place of him who is 
threatened, to protect him, to shield him with my person, 
and if possible, to rescue him, drag him away to safety to 
conceal him, just as though rescuing a man from the flames 
of a conflagration or from drowning; either perish yourself 
or rescue him. And if I cannot do so because I am myself 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 229 

an erring sinner, it does not mean that I should be a beast 
and while doing evil, seek excuses for my course of action. 

Russian Sectarian Wisdom. 

VII. 

The Corruption of Christ's Commandment Regarding 
Non-Resistance to Evil by the Use of Force 

1. The foundation of law and order among the 
heathens was retribution and force. It could not have been 
anything else. The foundation of our society it seems 
should inevitably be love and denial of force. And yet force 
still reigns. Why? Because that which is preached as the 
doctrine of Christ is not His doctrine. 

2. It is remarkable that men who do not understand 
the teachings of Christ particularly resent the mention of 
non-resistance to evil by force. This mention displeases 
them because it disturbs their accustomed order of life. 
And therefore, people who do not care to change their ac- 
customed order of life take exception to this basic condition 
of love, terming it a special commandment, independent of 
the law of love, and either amend it in divers ways or simply 
deny it. 

3. Shall we understand the words of Christ admonish- 
ing us to love those that hate us, our enemies, and forbidding 
force of any description, just as they were spoken and ex- 
pressed, or as the teaching of meekness, humility and love, 
or as something still different? If as something different, it 
must be stated as what? But no one is willing to do so. 
What does it mean ? It means that all these people who call 
themselves Christians desire to conceal from themselves 
and from others the true meaning of the teachings of Christ, 
for if it were understood as it should be, it would upset the 



230 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

order of their life. And this order of life is profitable to 
them. 

4. Men who call themselves Christians simply do not 
recognize the commandment of non-resistance as binding, 
they teach that it is not binding, and that there are cases 
when it must be transgressed, and yet they dare not say that 
they deny this simple and clear commandment, which is in- 
separably bound up with the entire teaching of Christ, the 
doctrine of meekness, humility, the obedient bearing of the 
cross, self-denial and love of the enemy, a commandment 
without which the entire teaching of Christ becomes empty 
words. 

To this, and to this alone, is due the remarkable fact 
that while such Christian teachers have been preaching 
Christianity for over 1900 years, the world still continues to 
lead a pagan life. 

5. Every man of the world reading the gospel knows in 
his heart that this doctrine forbids to do evil to your neigh- 
bor under any pretext, whether for retribution, or for pro- 
tection, or for the sake of saving another, so that if he 
wishes to remain a Christian, he must do one of the two 
things : either change his entire life which is built on force, 
that is, on the doing of evil to his neighbor, or somehow con- 
ceal from himself that which the teaching of Christ de- 
mands. And for this reason men easily accept false teach- 
ings which substitute their diverse inventions for the sub- 
stance of Christianity. 

6. Strange, is it not, that people accepting the doctrine 
of Christ should rage against the rule forbidding the use of 
force under all circumstances. 

A man, accepting the principle that the meaning and 
the true activity of life are found in love, rages because a 
sure and indubitable way to that activity is pointed out to 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 231 

him, as well as are those most dangerous errors which might 
draw him away from this path. As well might a navigator 
rage because mid shoals and submerged rocks a safe channel 
is pointed out to him for his course: "Why these restric- 
tions ?" "I might find it necessary to run aground." Just 
so speak the people who rage because under no circum- 
stances is it right to use force and to repay evil with evil. 



PUNISHMENT 



PUNISHMENT 

In the animal world evil calls for evil, and the animal, 
unable to restrain the evil provoked in it, endeavors to repay 
evil with evil, not realizing that evil inevitably augments 
evil. But man, being endowed with reason, cannot help 
seeing that evil augments evil, and should therefore refrain 
from repaying evil with evil, but frequently man's animal 
nature gains the upper hand over his rational nature, and he 
uses the very reason that should restrain him from render- 
ing evil for evil, in order to find an excuse for the evil com- 
mitted by him, and calls this evil retributive punishment. 



Punishment Never Achieves Its Object 

1. Some say that evil may be rendered for evil in order 
to correct people. This is untrue. They deceive them- 
selves. Men render evil for evil, not to correct others, but 
for vengeance's sake. Evil cannot be corrected by the com- 
mission of evil. 

2. Russians use the word "to instruct'* euphoniously in 
the sense of punishing. You can teach only by good words 
and a good example. Rendering evil for evil is not teach- 
ing, but corrupting. 

3. The superstitious belief that evil may be destroyed 
through punishment is particularly harmful, because people 
doing evil in the name of this superstition, consider it not 
only permissible, but even beneficial. 

4. Punishments and threats of punishments may re- 
strain a man for a season from the commission of evil deeds, 
but cannot reform him. 

5. The greater portion of human misery is due to the 



236 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

fact that sinful men have usurped the prerogative of pun- 
ishment. "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay." 

6. One of the most lurid proofs that the name of 
"science" is a cover not only for the most trifling, but even 
for the most repulsive things, is found in the existence of a 
science of punishment, which is the most ignoble of all func- 
tions, fit only for the lowest stage of human development — a 
child, or a savage. 

II. 

The Superstitious Belief in the Reasonableness 
of Punishment 

1. Just as there are superstitions regarding false gods, 
predictions, external methods of appeasing God and saving 
one's soul, there also exists a very common superstition 
among men, that some people can compel by the use of force 
other people to lead a good life. The superstitions of false 
gods, prophecies of mysterious means of saving the soul are 
beginning to be dissipated and are almost destroyed. But 
the superstitious order of things, permitting the punish- 
ment of the bad, in order to make others happy, is still 
adhered to by all, and the greatest crimes are committed in 
its name. 

2. Only men altogether intoxicated with the lust of 
power can seriously believe that punishment can better the 
life of people. You have only to give up the superstition 
that punishment reforms people, in order to realize that a 
change in the life of a man can only be the result of an 
inner, spiritual change in the individual concerned, and 
never of the evil that some men commit upon others. 

3. "And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto Him a 
woman taken in adultery ; and when they had set her in the 
midst, 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 237 

"They say unto Him, Master, this woman was taken 
in adultery, in the very act. 

"Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such 
should be stoned, but what sayest Thou ?" 

"This they said, tempting Him, that they might have to 
accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down, and with His finger 
wrote on the ground, as though He heard them not. 

"So when they continued asking Him, He lifted up 
Himself, and said unto them : He that is without sin among 
you, let him first cast a stone at her. 

"And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 

"And they which heard it, being convicted by their own 
conscience, went out one by one, beginning with his eldest, 
even unto the last ; and Jesus was left alone, and the woman 
standing in the midst. 

"When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but 
the woman, He said unto her: Woman, where are those, 
thine accusers ? Hath no man condemned thee ?" 

'She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her: 
Neither do I condemn thee ; go, and sin no more." 

John, viii, 3-16. 

4. Men invent cunning arguments as to why and for 
what purpose they impose punishment. But in reality they 
always punish because they think it profitable for them- 
selves. 

5. Because of their own meanness, because of the de- 
sire to avenge an injury, because of a mistaken idea of self- 
protection, men commit evil, and then, for the sake of self- 
justification, they try to assure themselves and others that 
they only did so in order to correct him who had done evil. 

6. The superstitious belief in the reasonableness of 
punishment finds much support in the fact that the fear of 



238 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

punishment restrains people for a season from the commis- 
sion of evil deeds. But forbidding under pain of penalty 
does not lessen, nay, it increases the craving for evil, just as 
a dam does not lessen, but increases the pressure of the 
river. 

7. A semblance of order exists in the human society to- 
day not because there are penalties against the disturbance 
of the order, but because in spite of the injurious effect of 
these penalties, people pity and love one another. 

8. It is impossible for one set of people to improve the 
life of the others. Each man can only make his own life 
better. 

9. Punishment is injurious not only because it exasper- 
ates those who are punished, but also because it corrupts 
those who impose punishment. 

III. 

Retribution in Personal Relations of People 

1. To punish a man because his deeds are evil is like 
heating a fire. Every man who has committed evil is already 
punished by being deprived of peace and by suffering pangs 
of conscience. And if his conscience does not trouble him, 
no punishment that may be imposed upon him will reform 
him, it will merely exasperate him. 

2. The real punishment for every evil deed is that 
which is suffered in the soul of the evil doer, and consists 
in the decrease of his capacity of enjoying the blessings of 
life. 

3. A man has done wrong. And lo ! another man, or 
set of men, can find nothing better to do than to commit an- 
other wrong which they call punishment. 

4. When a baby slaps the floor against which it fell, 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 239 

the action is futile, but intelligible, just as it is intelligible 
why a man might hop about after stubbing his toe. It is also 
intelligible when a man who has been struck in the first 
moment of attack strikes back at his assailant. But deliber- 
ately to do wrong to another, because he had done wrong 
previously, and to believe that it is the right thing to do, is 
to depart from reason entirely. 

5. In some places they practice the following method 
of slaying bears : over a trough with honey a heavy weight 
is hung on a rope. The bear pushes the weight out of his 
way in order to get at the honey, but the weight rebounds 
and strikes him. The bear is angered and pushes the weight 
with more force, and it. strikes back all the harder. And 
this is continued until the weight slays the bear. This is 
just what happens to people who render evil for evil. Can- 
not men have more reason than bears ? 

6. Men are creatures endowed with reason, and there- 
fore, should realize that vengeance cannot destroy evil, that 
deliverance from evil is only in that which is contrary to 
evil — namely love, and not in punishment, whatever name 
may be given it. But people do not realize this, they believe 
in retribution. 

7. If we only had not learned from childhood that we 
may render evil for evil, that we may force people to do 
what we would have them do, we should marvel at people de- 
liberately corrupting others by training them to believe that 
punishment or any kind of force may be beneficial. We 
punish a child to teach it not to do wrong, and yet by the 
very act of punishing it, we inculcate in its mind the idea 
that punishment may be just and beneficial. 

And yet hardly any of the evil traits for which we pun- 
ish the child can be as harmful as the evil trait which we 
inculcate in its mind when punishing it. "I am being pun- 



240 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

ished, therefore punishment must be good," so the child 
thinks, and at the first opporunity it will act accordingly. 

IV. 

Retribution in Social Relations 

1. The doctrine of the propriety of punishment is not, 
nor has it ever been of any help in the education of children, 
nor is it of any help in the improvement of the social order 
or of the morality of all those who believe in retribution be- 
yond the grave; on the contrary, it is, and has always been 
responsible for incalculable misery ; it brutalizes the children, 
it weakens the bonds of the people in the community and 
corrupts the people by threats of a hell, robbing virtue of its 
main foundation. 

2. The reason that men do not believe in rendering 
good for evil, instead of evil for evil, is that they had been 
taught from childhood that without this rendering evil for 
evil our entire social fabric would be disrupted. 

3. If it is true that all good people desire the discon- 
tinuance of crimes, robberies, poverty and murders which 
darken the life of mankind, they must understand that 
that end cannot be attained by force and retribution. 
Everything brings forth after its own kind, and until we 
oppose the wrongs and assaults of evil doers with deeds of a 
contrary nature, we shall be doing just the same as they, and 
shall thus only arouse, encourage and develop in them that 
evil to eradicate which we claim to be so anxious. Other- 
wise, we shall only change the form of evil, but it will re- 
main the same. Ballon. 

4. Decades, centuries perhaps will pass, and our de- 
scendants will marvel at our punishments, just as we marvel 
now at the practice of burning at the stake and at tortures. 






THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 241 

"How could they be so blind to the senselessness, cruelty and 
harm fulness of what they practised?" our descendants will 
inquire. 

V. 

Brotherly Love and Non-Resistance to Evil Must Be 

Substituted for Retribution in the Personal 

Relations Between Men 

1. It is said in the New Testament that when a man 
strike thee upon thy right cheek, thou shalt turn to him the 
other also. 

This is the law of God for the Christian. It does not 
matter who has used force, nor for what purpose, force is 
an evil, just as evil as the evil of murder, the evil of adultery. 
It does not matter who commits it, or for what purpose, 
whether one man or millions of men, all evil is evil, and be- 
fore God all men are equal. The commandments of God 
are always obligatory upon all people. Therefore, the com- 
mandment of love must always be obeyed by all Christians — 
it is always better to suffer from force than to use force. It 
is better for the Christian, taking an extreme case, to be 
slain than to slay. If I am hurt by others, as a Christian I 
must reason like this: I also was in the habit of hurting 
people, and therefore it is good that God should send me a 
trial for my own good and for my redemption from sins. 
And if I am injured without any guilt on my part, it is all 
the better for me, for this has happened to all holy men, 
and if I act like them, I am going to be like them. It is im- 
possible to save your soul with evil, it is impossible to attain 
good by the path of evil, just as it is impossible to return 
home by going away from home. Satan does not drive 
away Satan, evil is not conquered with evil, but evil is merely 
added to evil and grows stronger thereby. Evil is only con- 
quered by righteousness and goodness. Only with good- 



242 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

ness, with goodness, patience and long suffering can evil be 
extinguished. Russian Sectarian Teaching. 

2. Know and remember that the desire for punishment 
is the desire for vengeance, and is not proper to a rational 
creature, such as man is. This desire is only natural to the 
animal in man. And therefore man must endeavor to de- 
liver himself of this desire, and not to find excuses for it. 

3. What must you do when a man is angry with you 
and would harm you? Many things can be done, but one 
thing surely you must not do : you must not do evil, that is, 
you must not do as the other man would do unto you. 

4. Do not say that if people are good to you, you will 
be good to them also, and if men will oppress you, you will 
oppress them also. But if men do good unto you, do good 
unto them likewise, and if men oppress you, do not oppress 
them in turn. Mohammed. 

5. The doctrine of love which admitting no violence, is 
important not only because it is good for man, for the soul 
of man, to suffer evil, and to render good for evil, but also 
because good alone can stop evil, can extinguish it, and keep 
it from going further. The true teaching of love finds its 
strength in that it extinguishes evil, not permitting it to blaze 
up. 

6. Many years ago people began to appreciate the lack 
of harmony between punishment and the highest qualities of 
the human soul, and started to invent all sorts of theories 
whereby this low animal tendency might be justified. Some 
say that punishment is necessary as a deterrent, others that 
it is necessary for correction, still others that it is required 
so that justice might prevail, as though God could not estab- 
lish justice in the world without man to impose punishments. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 243 

But all these theories are empty phrases, because at their 
root are evil sentiments : revenge, fear, selflove, hatred. 
Many theories are being invented, but no one decides to do 
the one thing needful, namely, to do nothing at all, leaving 
him who has sinned to repent or not to repent, to reform or 
not to reform, while they who invent all these theories, and 
who apply them in practice, might leave the others alone 
and merely see that they themselves lead a righteous life. 

7. Render good for evil, and you destroy in the evil- 
doer all the pleasure he sees in evil. 

8. If you think that someone is guilty before you, for- 
get it and forgive. And you will learn the happiness of 
forgiving. 

9. Nothing rejoices people as much as to have their 
evil deeds forgiven, and to be paid good for evil, nor is any- 
thing as blessed to him who does so. 

10. Goodness overcomes all things, but is itself in- 
vincible. 

11. You can withstand all things but goodness. 

Rousseau. 

12. Render good for evil, forgive all men. Only then 
will evil pass from this world, when every man obeys this 
injunction. Know that this is the one thing to be desired, 
the one thing to strive for, for it is the one thing that will 
deliver us from the evils from which we suffer. 

13. He has the highest honor before God who forgives 
those that injure him, for their offences, particularly when 
they are in his power. Mohammed. 

14. Then came Peter to Him, and said, Lord, how oft 
shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him, till seven 
times? 



244 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, until seven 
times, but until seventy times seven. 

Matthew, xviii, 21, 22. 

To forgive, means not to do vengeance, not to render 
evil for evil, it means to love. If man believe this, then the 
thing is not what the brother has done, but what you ought 
to do. If you would correct your neighbor in his error, tell 
him meekly that he has done wrong. If he fail to hear you, 
do not blame him, but blame yourself for not knowing how 
to tell him suitably. 

To ask how often we may forgive a brother, is like ask- 
ing a man who knows that to drink wine is wrong, and has 
resolved not to drink any more wine, how often he ought to 
reject wine when it is offered him. Once I have resolved 
not to drink, I shall not drink, no> matter how often wine is 
offered to me. The same is true of forgiveness. 

15. To forgive is not merely to say "I forgive," but to 
take out of your heart all malice, all unkindly feeling to- 
wards him who has injured you. And in order to be able to 
do this, remember your own sins, for if you do, you are 
bound to remember worse deeds of your own than those 
that have evoked your anger. 

16. The doctrine of non-resistance to evil by the use of 
force is not some new law, but merely points out the trans- 
gression of the law of love which people wrongfully sanc- 
tion, it merely points out that the sanction of the use of force 
against your neighbor, whether in the name of retribution, 
or in the name of the alleged deliverance of yourself or 
others from evil, is incompatible with love. 

17. The doctrine that if you love, you cannot seek 
vengeance, is so clear that it follows from the sense of the 
teaching as a matter of course. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 245 

If, therefore, there had not been a word said in the 
Christian teaching to the effect that a Christian must render 
good for evil, and must love his enemies and those that hate 
him, any man understanding the teaching could deduce from 
it this commandment of love for himself. 

18. In order to understand the teaching of Christ about 
rendering good for evil, it must be understood correctly, and 
not as now interpreted, with excisions and additions. The 
entire teaching of Christ is in this : man lives not for his 
body, but for his soul, to fulfill the will of God. But the will 
of God is that men should love one another, should love all 
men. How then can man love all men and do evil to others ? 
He who believes in the teachings of Christ, no matter what is 
done to him, will not do that which is contrary to love, will 
not do evil to others. 

19. Without the prohibition of rendering evil for evil, 
the whole Christian doctrine is empty words. 

20. Then came Peter to Him, and said, Lord, how oft 
shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till 
seven times? 

Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee until seven 
times, but until seventy times seven. 

Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened unto a 
certain king, which would take account of his servants. 

"And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought 
unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. 

But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord com- 
manded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all 
that he had, and payment to be made. 

The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, 
saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 

Then the lord of that servant was moved with com- 
passion, and loosed him and forgave him the debt. 



246 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

But the same servant went out, and found one of his 
fellow-servants, which owed him an hundred pence ; and he 
laid hands on him, and took him by the throat saying, Pay 
me that thou owest. 

And his fellow-servant fell down at his feet, and be- 
sought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay 
thee all. 

And he would not, but went and cast him into prison, 
till he should pay the debt. 

So when his fellow-servants saw what was done, they 
were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that 
was done. 

Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto 
him, О thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, be- 
cause thou desirest me : 

Shouldst not thou also have had compassion on thy 
fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee ? 

And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tor- 
mentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. 

So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, 
if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother 
their trespasses. Matthew, xviii, 21-35. 

VI. 

Non-Resistance to Evil by Force is as Essential in Social 
as in Personal Relations 

1. People insist on remaining as evil as they were, yet 
they desire that life nevertheless should improve. 

2. We do not know, we cannot know wherein consists 
personal happiness, but we firmly know that the attainment 
of this universal happiness is possible only with the fulfill- 
ment of that eternal law of goodness which is revealed to 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 247 

every man both in the treasures of human wisdom and in his 
own heart. 

3. It is said that it is impossible not to render evil for 
evil, for otherwise the evil would dominate over the good. I 
believe just the opposite; only then will the evil dominate 
over the good, when the people will think that it is permitted 
to render evil for evil, just as is now being done among 
Christian nations. The evil have now dominion over the 
good, because it is inculcated in all that it is not only per- 
mitted, but even directly beneficial to do evil to others. 

4. It is said that when we cease to threaten the evil 
with punishment, the present order of things will be dis- 
rupted, and everything will perish. One might as well say, 
when the river ice melts, everything will be ruined. Nothing 
of the kind. Boats will come, and the real life will com- 
mence. 

5. Speaking of the Christian doctrine, learned writers 
generally assume that Christianity, in its true meaning, is 
not adapted to life, and regard this as a definitely settled 
question. 

"Why dwell in dreams? We must attend to practical 
affairs. We must change the relations between capital and 
labor, we must organize labor and land ownership, open up 
markets, found colonies for the distribution of surplus popu- 
lation, we must define the relations between state and 
Church, we must form alliances and secure the safety of our 
dominions, etc. 

"We must attend to serious matters, things which merit 
care and interest, and not to dreams of a world order where 
men turn the other cheek, when their right cheek is struck, 
yield a coat when robbed of a shirt, and live like the birds of 
the air, — all this is sheer nonsense ;" thus argue many, for- 



248 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

getting that the root of all these questions is in the very 
thing that they call sheer nonsense. 

And the root of all these problems is for that reason in 
the very thing these people consider sheer nonsense, that all 
of these problems, from the problem of the struggle of capi- 
tal and labor down to the problems of nationalities and of 
relations between the state and the Church, all turn on the 
point whether there are cases when man may and ought to 
do evil to his neighbor or whether there are no such cases 
nor indeed, can be for a rational human being. 

So that, in reality, all of these supposedly essential 
problems are reduced to one: is it rational or irrational, 
therefore, necessary or unnecessary to render evil for evil ? 
There was a time when men did not, could not understand 
the meaning of this question, but the succession of terrible 
sufferings amid which the human race is living, has led 
men to realize the necessity of deciding this problem prac- 
tically. Yet this problem was definitely settled by the teach- 
ing of Christ nineteen centuries ago. Therefore it is not 
meet that we pretend that we do not know this problem or 
its solution. 

VII. 

The True View of the Effects of the Doctrine of Non- 

Resistance to Evil by Force is Beginning to 

Sink into the Conscience of Humanity 

1. Punishment is a theory which mankind is beginning 
to outgrow. 

2. The spirit of Jesus which many endeavor to stifle is 
nevertheless ever more brightly manifested everywhere. 
Has not the spirit of the gospel penetrated into the con- 
science of nations ? Are they not beginning to see the light? 
Have not the ideas of rights and obligations become clearer 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 249 

to all ? Do we not hear from all sides a call for more equita- 
ble laws, for institutions to protect the weak, and based on 
the principles of justice and equality? Is not the old 
enmity between those who had been separated by force 
gradually dying out? Do not the nations feel themselves 
to be brothers ? 

This is all labor in embryo, and ready to develop, a labor 
of love which will lift the sin from the earth, which will open 
up a new path of life to the nations, the inner law of which 
will not be force but the love of one man for another. 

Lamenais. 



VANITY 



VANITY 

Nothing so mars the life of man, nothing so surely robs 
him of true happiness, as the habit of living not in accord- 
ance with the precepts of the wise men of our world, not in 
accordance with one's conscience, but in accordance with 
that which is accepted as good and approved by the people 
among whom one lives. 

I. 

Wherein Consists the Error of Vanity 

1. One of the principal causes of the evil life of men is 
in doing that which we do not for our body's sake, not for 
out soul's sake, but for the sake of receiving the approba- 
tion of man. 

2. No temptation holds men so long in its thrall, nor 
removes them so far from the realization of the meaning of 
human life and its true happiness, as the desire for fame, and 
popular approbation, honors and praise. 

Man can free himself from this temptation only by 
stubborn struggle with self and constant challenge of his 
consciousness of oneness with God, leading him to seek the 
approval of God alone. 

3. We are not content to live our true inner life, we 
crave to live another, a fictitious life in the thoughts of other 
people, and for that purpose we force ourselves to appear 
other than we really are. We unceasingly strive to adorn 
tbis fictitious person, but take no care of the real creature 
which we actually are. If we are at peace in our soul, if we 
believe, if we love, we hurry to tell others about it so that 
these virtues should be not ours alone, but should be also at- 
tributed to the fictitious person in the minds of others. 

In order to make people think that we have virtues, we 



254 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

are even ready to give them up. We are ready to be 
cowards, if only we gain reputation for bravery. Pascal. 

4. One of the most dangerous and injurious catch 
phrases is : "Every one says so." 

5. Much evil is done by men for the gratification of 
their carnal passions, but still more for the sake of gaining 
praise for human glory. 

6. When it is difficult, nay almost impossible to account 
for human actions, be assured that the cause of these actions 
is the thirst for human glory. 

7. A baby is rocked not to relieve it from that which 
causes it to cry, but to make it stop crying. We do the 
same with our conscience, when we stifle its voice in order 
to please people. We do not calm our conscience, but at- 
tain what we seek for : we no longer hear its voice. 

8. Pay no heed to the number, but to the character of 
your admirers. It may be disagreeable to displease good 
people, but failure to please evil people is always good. 

Seneca. 

9. Our greatest expenditures are incurred by us to 
make ourselves like other people. We never spend as much 
on the mind or on the heart. Emerson. 

10. In every good deed there is a particle of a desire 
for human approbation. But woe if we do things exclu- 
sively to obtain human glory. 

11. One man asked another why he did things which 
he did not like. 

"Because everybody is doing so," he answered. 
"I would not say everybody. I, for instance, do not 
happen to do so, then there are quite a few others." 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 255 

"If not everybody, still very many, the great majority 
of people." 

"But tell me, are there more wise people, or foolish peo- 
ple in this world ?" 

"Certainly there are more foolish people." 
"Then you do what you do to imitate fools." 
12. Man grows easily accustomed to the most wicked 
life, if only everybody around him leads a wicked life. 

II. 

The Fact that Many People are of One Opinion Does Not 
Prove that this Opinion is Correct 

1. Evil is no less an evil because many people do evil, 
and even, as is frequently done, boast of it. 

2. The more people hold to one belief, the more cau- 
tious must be our attitude to that belief, and the more care- 
fully must we examine it. 

3. When we are told, "Do as others do," it almost 
means, "Do wrong." i a Bruyere. 

4. Learn to do what "everybody" wants, and before 
long you will commit evil deeds and believe them to be 
good. 

5. If we only knew the motive back of the praise be- 
stowed upon us, or of the censure passed upon us, we should 
cease to value praise, and to fear censure. 

6. Man has his own tribunal within himself, his con- 
science. Only its judgment should be cherished. 

7. Search for the best man among those who are con- 
demned by the world. 

8. If the multitude hates someone it is well first to 
judge very carefully why it is so, before joining in con- 



256 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

demning him. If the multitude is partial to someone, it is 
well to judge very carefully why it is so, before forming an 
opinion. Confucius. 

9. Our life cannot be harmed so much by evil doers 
who would corrupt us, as by the unthinking multiude which 
drags us along like a maelstrom. 

III. 

Ruinous Effects of Vanity 

1. Society says to the man: think as we think, believe 
as we believe; eat and drink as we eat and drink; dress as 
we dress. If any fail to comply with these demands, society 
will torment them with ridicule, gossip and abuse. It is hard 
not to submit, but if you submit, you are still worse off; 
submit, and you are no longer a free man ; you are a slave. 

Lucy Mattory. 

2. It is meritorious to study for the sake of the soul, in 
order to be wiser and better. Such study is useful to people. 
But when people study for the sake of human glory, in order 
to be reputed as men of learning, such study is not only use- 
less, but injurious, and renders them less wise and kindly 
than they had been before taking up these studies. 

Chinese wisdom. 

3. Do not praise yourself, even do not let others praise 
you. Praise ruins the soul, because it substitutes desire for- 
human glory in place of caring for the soul. 

4. We frequently see that a good, wise and just man, 
although he sees the wrong of warfare, meat eating, robbing 
human creatures of necessities, condemning people, and of 
many other evil deeds, yet calmly persists in following them. 






THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 257 

Why is this so? Because he values the opinion of 
others more than the verdict of his own conscience. 

5. Only care for the opinion of others can explain that 
most common and yet most strange human action : a lie. A 
man knows one thing but asserts another. Why ? The only 
explanation is that he fears not to receive praise if he told 
the truth, and believes that he will be praised, if he tells a 
falsehood. 

6. Failing to respect tradition has not done one-thou- 
sandth part of the harm that is done through veneration of 
old customs. 

Men have long since ceased to believe many old cus- 
toms, but still submit to them, because they believe that the 
majority of people will condemn them, should they cease to 
submit to customs in which they no longer have any faith. 

IV. 

Combating the Error of Vanity 

1. In the first period of his life, in his infancy, man 
lives mainly for his body ; he eats, drinks, plays and is merry. 
This is the first step. The older he grows the more he 
begins to worry about the opinion of people among whom he 
lives, and for the sake of that opinion, he begins to forget 
the demands of his body : food, drink, play and amusements. 
This is the second stage. The third and final stage is when 
man submits more and more to the demands of his soul, and 
for the sake of his soul, neglects the body, amusements and 
human glory. 

Vanity is the first and crudest remedy against animal 
passions. But later you must deliver yourself of the remedy. 
There is but one cure, to live for the soul. 

2. It is difficult for one man to recede from accepted 
usage, and yet every step towards self-betterment brings you 
face to face with accepted usage and subjects you to the cen- 



258 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

sure of people. The man who has set the aim of his life in 
striving towards perfecting himself must be ready for this. 

3. It is bad to annoy people by departing from their 
accepted usage, but it is worse to depart from the demands 
of conscience and reason by humoring popular usage. 

4. Now as always it is the practice to ridicule him who 
sits in silence; both he who talks a great deal and he who 
says little, are subject to ridicule; there is no man on earth 
that escapes criticism. While there has never been anyone, 
no one exists, or ever will exist, who would be always con- 
demned in all things, neither is there any one who would be 
always praised for all things. Therefore it is not worth 
while to worry about human censure or human praise. 

5. The most important thing for you to know is what 
you think of yourself, for on this depends your happiness or 
lack of happiness, but not on what others think of you. 
Therefore, do not worry about the judgment of people, but 
strive to preserve your spiritual life in vigor, nor allow it to 
weaken. 

6. You fear that you will be scorned for your meek- 
ness, but just men cannot scorn you because of it, and others 
do not matter; therefore, pay no heed to their judgment. 
Why should a good cabinet maker feel hurt if a man having 
no knowledge of cabinet making fails to approve his work ? 

Men who scorn you because of your meekness have no 
knowledge of what is good for man. Why should you heed 
their judgment ? Epictetus. 

7. It is time for man to know his worth. Is he then 
some illegitimately born creature? It is time for him to 
cease casting timid glances about him, to see whether he has 
succeeded in pleasing people or not. No, let my head rest 
solid and square on my shoulders. Life was given me not 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 259 

for show, but for me to live by. I recognize my obligation 
to live for my soul. And I will pay heed not to what people 
think of me, but to my life, whether I am or am not fulfilling 
my destiny before Him who sent me into the world. 

Emerson. 

8. Every man who from his youth on has yielded him- 
self to low animal passions persists in yielding to them, al- 
thought his conscience demands from him other things. He 
does so because others are doing the same. Others are doing 
it for the same reason as he. There is only one way out of 
this : every man must free himself from dependence on the 
opinions of others. 

9. An hermit had a vision. He saw an angel of God 
descending from Heaven with a shining crown in his hand 
and looking about to see on whom to impose it. And the 
heart of the hermit burned within him. And he said to the 
angel of God : "How can I merit this shining crown? I will 
do everything to receive this reward." 

And the angel said: "Look." And turning about the 
angel pointed with his finger to the lands of the North. And 
the hermit looked and saw a huge, black cloud, which cov- 
ered half of the firmament and was descending to the earth. 
And the cloud parted, and there issued from it a vast multi- 
tude of black Ethiopians advancing towards the hermit; but 
back of them all stood a terrible Ethiopian giant, who was 
so tall that while his immense feet touched the earth, his 
shaggy head, with its terrifying eyes, reached up to Heaven. 

"Fight with these, conquer them, and I shall place the 
crown upon your head." 

And the hermit was terrified, and said : 

"I can and I shall fight with all of them, but this great 
Ethiopian, with his feet on the ground and his head in the 



260 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

sky, it is beyond human strength to fight with him, I cannot 
overcome him." 

"Madman," replied the angel of God, "all these small 
Ethiopians whom you will not fight because of the fear of 
the huge Ethiopian back of them, they are the sinful desires 
of man, and they can be overcome. But the Ethiopian giant 
is human glory, for the sake of which men live in sin. It is 
needless to fight him. He is hollow and empty. Overcome 
sin, and he will vanish from the earth of his own accord." 

V. 
Take Heed of Your Soul, and Not of Your Reputation 

1. The quickest and surest means to be reputed vir- 
tuous is not to appear such before men, but to labor over 
self, in order to become virtuous. Socrates. 

2. To compel people to consider us good is much 
harder than to become such as we would have people think 
us to be. Lichtenberg. 

3. He who does not think by himself, subjects himself 
to the thoughts of others. To put one's mind in subjection 
to others is a more humiliating mode of slavery than the sub- 
jection of the body. Think with your own head, do not 
worry about what people will say about you. 

4. If you care about the approbation of people, you 
will never decide upon anything, for some people approve 
one thing, others another. It is necessary to decide for your- 
self, and it is much simpler. 

5. In order to show yourself off before men you either 
praise yourself or censure yourself before others. If you 
praise yourself, people will not believe you. If you censure 
yourself, people will think worse of you than your words 
warrant. It is best to say nothing about yourself, and to 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 261 

care for the judgment of your own conscience and not for 
the judgment of the people. 

6. No man shows such regard for virtue and such loy- 
alty to it as he who willingly loses a good reputation in order 
to remain good in his heart. Seneca. 

7. If a man has learned to> live only for human glory, 
he thinks it a hardship to be thought stupid, ignorant or 
very wicked, because of failing to do what everybody else is 
doing. But all hard things require work. And in this in- 
stance work must be done from two points of view; you 
must learn to scorn the judgment of people, and again you 
must learn to live for deeds, which are good, although people 
condemn you for doing them. 

8. I must act as I think is right, and not as others 
think. This rule holds true in :very day life just as it does 
in the intellectual life. This is a hard rule, because you are 
apt to meet people everywhere who think that they know 
your duties better than you. It is easy to live in the world 
in accord with the world's opinion, but in solitude it is easy 
to follow your own; blessed is the man who in the midst of 
a multitude does what he, in solitude has determined is the 
right thing to do. 

9. All people live and act, both in accord with their 
own thoughts and with those of others. The principal dif- 
ference between people is in the extent to which they live 
according to their own thoughts and according to the 
thoughts of others. 

10. It seems passing strange that people should live 
neither for their own happiness nor for that of others, but 
merely for the praise of other people. Yet how few men 
there are who do not value the approbation of their acts by 
strangers more highly than their own happiness and that of 
others. 



262 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

11. Man will never be accorded the praise of all 
without exception. If he is good, evil men will find some- 
thing evil in him, and will either ridicule him or criticise 
him. If he is bad, good men will not approve of him. In 
order to obtain the praise of everybody, man must pretend 
to be good before good people, and bad before bad people. 
But both the good and the bad will in time discover his 
hypocrisy and will despise him. There is only one remedy : 
be good, do not worry about the opinion of others, and do 
not seek the reward of your life in the opinion of the people, 
but in your own. 

"No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old gar- 
ment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the 
garment, and the rent is made worse." 

"Neither do men put new wine into old bottles, else the 
bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles 
perish; but they put new wine into new bottles, and both 
are preserved.' , Matthew ix, 16, 17. 

This means that in order to begin to live a better life 
(and to make your life ever better, therein is all the life of 
man) you cannot stick to old habits, you must form new 
habits. You cannot follow what the ancients thought good, 
but you must form new habits of your own, without caring 
about what people consider good or evil. 

12. It is hard to discern whether you serve the people 
for the sake of your soul or God, or for the sake of their 
praise. There is only one way to make sure: if you per- 
form a deed which you think is good, ask yourself would you 
still persist in it, if you knew in advance that it would re- 
main unknown to all. If your answer is that you will do it 
anyhow, then surely that which you do is done for the sake 
of your soul, for God. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 263 

VI. 

He Who Lives the True Life Does Not Require the 
Praise of the People 

1. Live alone, said a sage. This means, decide the 
problem of your life alone with your own self, with the God 
who lives within you, and not in accordance with the ad- 
vice or the criticism of other people. 

2. The advantage of serving God as compared with 
serving people is that before people you involuntarily seek 
to show yourself in the most favorable light and are an- 
noyed if you are placed in an unfavorable light. There is 
nothing like that before God. He knows you as you are. 
No one can either over-praise you or slander you before 
Him, so that you need not seek to seem before him, but just 
to be good. 

3. If you would have peace, try to please God. Differ- 
ent people crave different things : to-day they desire one 
thing, to-morrow another. You can never please the people. 
But God living within you always desires one thing, and 
you know what He desires. 

4. Man must serve one of the two : either his soul or his 
body. If he would serve his soul, he must fight against sin. 
If he would serve his body, there is no need to fight against 
sin. He need only do that which is accepted by all. 

5. There is only one way to have no faith in God what- 
ever; it is always to think public opinion right, and to pay 
no attention to one's inner voice. Ruskin. 

6. When we are seated upon a moving vessel and our 
eyes are fixed upon an object on the same vessel, we do not 
notice that we are moving. But if we look aside, upon 
something that is not moving along with us, for instance, 



264 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

upon the coast, we shall notice immediately that we are 
moving. It is the same with life. When the whole world 
lives a life that is not right, we fail to notice it, but should 
one only awake spiritually and live a godly life, the evil life 
of the others become immediately apparent. And the others 
always persecute those who do not live like the rest. 

Pascal. 

7. Train yourself to live so as not to think of public 
opinion, but to live only for the fulfillment of the law of 
your life, the will of God. Such solitary life, with God 
alone as companion, furnishes no incentive to good deeds in 
human glory, but it gives your soul a feeling of freedom and 
peace and stability and such an assured knowledge that your 
path is true, as he who lives for human glory can never 
know. 

And every man can train himself to live so. 



FALSE RELIGIONS 



FALSE RELIGIONS 

False religions are religions which people follow not 
because they have need of them for their souls' sake, but 
because they have faith in them who expound them. 



Wherein Consists the Delusion of False Religions? 

1. People frequently imagine that they believe in the 
law of God, whereas they pin their faith merely to that in 
which all believe. All, however, believe not in the law of 
God, but call that the law of God which suits their life and 
does not interfere with it. 

2. When people live in sin and error, they cannot be 
at peace. Their conscience accuses them. Therefore such 
people must do one of two things : either they must ac- 
knowledge their guilt before men and God and cease from 
sin, or continue their life of sin and their evil deeds and 
call such evil deeds good. It is for this class of people that 
the teachings of false religions are designed, since it is pos- 
sible according to them to lead an evil life and to feel jus- 
tified in doing so. 

3. It is bad enough to lie to other people, but it is far 
worse to lie to oneself. It is harmful particularly for the 
reason that if you lie to others you may be exposed, but if 
you lie to yourself there is no one to expose you. There- 
fore take care not to lie to yourself, especially in the mat- 
ters of faith. 

4. "Believe or be damned." Herein is the main source 
of evil. If a man accepts without reasoning that which lie 
should settle by the light of his reason, he loses in the end 
the capacity of reasoning, and not only falls into condemna- 



268 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

tion himself, but leads his neighbors into sin as well. The 
salvation of people consists in everyone learning to think 
with his own mind. Emerson. 

5. The harm done by false religions can neither be 
weighed nor measured. 

Religion is the determination of the attitude of man 
towards God and the world, and the definition of his call- 
ing as derived from this attitude. What then can be a 
man's life if both this attitude and the definition of his 
calling derived from it are false? 

6. There can be three kinds of false beliefs. The first 
is the belief in the possibility of learning by experience that 
which according to< the laws of experience is impossible. 
The second is in the admission for our moral perfecting of 
things which cannot be conceived by our reason. The third 
is the belief in the possibility of summoning by supernatural 
means mysterious activities whereby the Deity may influ- 
ence our morality. Kant. 

II. 

False Religions Respond to the Lowest, Not to the 
Highest Needs of the Human Soul 

1. The only true religion contains nothing but laws, 
that is those moral principles the absolute necessity of 
which we can recognize and study ourselves and which 
we can acknowledge by our reason. Kant. 

2. Man can please God only by good living. There- 
fore all things outside of good, upright and clean living 
whereby a man thinks he can please God are a crude and a 
harmful delusion. Kant. 

3. The penance of a man who chastises himself in- 
stead of taking advantage of the disposition of his spirit 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 269 

in order to change his mode of life is wasted labor; such 
penance has in addition the bad effect of making him think 
that by this act of penance he has wiped out his score of 
debts and he takes no* further care to perfect himself, which 
is the only thing conscious when conscious of moral faults. 

Kant. 

4. It is bad enough when man does not know God, but 
it is worse when he acknowledges that as God which is not 
God. Lactantius. 

5. It is said God created man in his image ; one might 
rather say that man has created God in his own image. 

Lichtenberg. 

6. When some speak of heaven as of a place where 
the blessed abide they usually imagine it somewhere high 
up in the unfathomable cosmic spaces. But they forget that 
our own earth, viewed from those cosmic spaces appears 
like a celestial star and that the inhabitants of other worlds 
might with as much right point to our own earth and say : 
"Look at that star, the abode of eternal bliss, the heavenly 
refuge prepared for us where we shall enter some day." 
In the curious error of our mind the flight of our faith is 
always associated with the idea of ascension, without realiz- 
ing that no matter how high we might soar we should still 
have to descend somewhere in order to set foot firmly in 
some other world. 

7. To ask God for material things, such as rain, re- 
covery from illness or delivery from enemies, is wrong if 
for no reason than because people may ask God at one 
time for opposite things, but principally because in the ma- 
terial world we are given all that we need. We might pray 
God to help us live the life of the spirit, such a life that, 



270 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

therein no matter what occurred it would redound to our 
blessing. But a rogatory prayer for material things is a 
self-deception. 

8. True prayer is to withdraw from all that is of the 
world, from all that might distract our feelings (the Mo- 
hammedans have the right idea when upon entering a 
mosque or commencing to pray they cover their eyes and 
their ears with their fingers), and to summon the Divine 
principle within ourselves. But the best is to do as Christ 
taught : to enter your closet in secret and to shut your door, 
that is to pray in solitude whether in your closet, or in the 
woods, or in the field. True prayer is to withdraw from 
all that is worldly, from all that is external, to examine 
your soul, your actions, your desires not in the light of the 
demands of outward conditions, but of that divine principle 
of which we are conscious in our soul. 

Such prayer is help, strength, elevation of spirit, con- 
fession, examination of past acts and direction of acts to 
come. 

III. 

Outward Worship 
1. Between a Shaman and a European prelate, or tak- 
ing plain people for example, between a crude sensual 
heathen who in the morning places upon his head the paw 
of a bearskin and says : "Slay me not," and a cultured Con- 
necticut Puritan, there may be a difference in methods, but 
there is no difference in the fundamentals of their faiths, 
for both belong to that class of people whose idea of serving 
God is not in becoming better men, but in religion or in 
the observing of certain arbitrary rules. Only those who 
believe that serving God is to strive towards a better life 
are different from these others, inasmuch as they acknowl- 
edge a different, a vastly superior basis for their faith that 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 271 

unites all right-minded people into one invisible church, 
which alone can be the universal church. Kant. 

2. The man who performs acts which have nothing 
ethical in themselves in order to incline to himself the good 
will of God, and thereby to attain the realization of his de- 
sires, is in error, because he means to attain supernatural 
results by natural means. Such attempts are called witch- 
craft, but since witchcraft is usually associated with the 
evil spirit, and these endeavors, though ignorant, are never- 
theless based on good intentions, let us rather call them 
fetishism. Such supernatural activities on the part of man 
towards God are possible only in imagination and are irra- 
tional if for no other reason than because it cannot be 
known whether they are pleasing to God. And if a man, 
in addition to his immediate efforts to gain the goodwill of 
God, that is in addition to good conduct, endeavors to ac- 
quire further merit by means of certain formalties, or 
supernatural aids, and with that end in view means to ren- 
der himself more receptive to a moral state of mind and to 
the attainment of his good inclinations by external observ- 
ances which have no intrinsic value, then he relies on some 
supernatural agency for the correction of his natural weak- 
ness. Such a man, believing that acts having nothing moral 
or God-pleasing in themselves, may be a means or a con- 
dition of the attainment of his desires direct from God, is 
in error, because he imagines that he can without any 
physical or moral inclination, make use of supernatural 
means having nothing in common with good morals, in 
order to conjure this supernatural divine assistance by the 
observance of various outward practices. Kant. 

3. "And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the 
hypocrites are . for they love to pray standing in the syna- 



272 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

gogue and in the corners of the streets, that they may be 
seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their re- 
ward. 

"But thou when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, 
and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to the Father 
which is in secret ; and thy Father which seeth secret shall 
reward thee openly." Matthew VI, 5-6. 

4. "Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long 
robes and love greetings in the markets, and the highest 
seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts : 

"Which devour widows' houses, and for a shew make 
long prayers : the same shall receive greater damnation." 

Luke XX, 46-47. 

Where there is false religion there will also always be 
scribes and they will always act just as the scribes of old 
against whom the Scripture warns us. 

IV. 

Multiplicity of Religious Teachings and the One 
True Religion 
1. The man who has given the subject of religion no 
thought imagines that the only true faith is the one in which 
he was born. But just ask yourself what if you had been 
born in some other faith? You a Christian — if you had 
been born a Mohammedan? You a Buddhist, if you had 
been born a Christian? You a Christian, if you had been 
born a Brahmin? Can it be that we alone are right in our 
faith, and all the others believe falsehood? Your faith 
will not become truth just because you assert to yourself 
and to others that it is the one true faith. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 27 Ъ 



Some Effects of Professing False Religions 

1. In 1682 it happened in England that Dr. Leighton, 
a venerable man who had written a book against the Angli- 
can episcopate, was tried in court and sentenced to the 
following punishment: he was cruelly lashed, then one of 
his ears was cut off, one of his nostrils slit open, and the 
characters S S were branded on his cheek. Seven days 
later he was lashed again, although the scars on his back 
had not yet healed, his other nostril was slit open, his other 
ear cut off, and his other cheek was branded. All this was 
done in the name of Christianity. Davidson. 

2. In 1415, Johannes Huss was adjudged a heretic for 
attacking the Catholic religion and the Pope; he was sen- 
tenced to death without the shedding of blood, that is to the 
stake. 

He was executed outside the city gates between some 
gardens. When he was brought to the place of execution 
he knelt down and commenced to pray. When the execu- 
tioner commanded him to ascend the stake, Huss arose and 
loudly said: 

"Lord Jesus Christ, I go to my death for the preaching 
of thy word, I shall suffer obediently.'*' 

The executioners divested him of his clothing and 
bound his hands behind him to a post. The feet of the 
martyr rested upon a bench. Fagots and straw were piled 
about him. They reached up to his chin. Then the Em- 
peror's representative approached him and said that if he 
recanted all that he had taught, he would be pardoned. 

"No," replied Huss, "I am blameless." 

Then the executioners set fire to the stake. Huss 



274 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

chanted the prayer: "O Christ, Son of the living God, have 
mercy upon me." 

The fire blazed upwards and soon the voice of Huss 
was stilled. 

Thus did men who called themselves Christians pro- 
claim their faith. 

Is it not clear that this was no true faith, but the 
crudest of superstitions? 

3. Of all the methods of propagating false religions 
the most brutal is the inculcation of false religions in the 
minds of the children. The child asks his elders, men who 
have lived before him and had the opportunity of acquir- 
ing the wisdom of those who had gone before, to tell him 
about the world and its life, and the relation between him- 
self and others, and he is told not what his elders really 
think and believe, but what people thought and believed 
thousands of years ago, that is things which his elders do 
not and can not themselves believe. Instead of the spiritual 
food which the child craves, they tender him poison that 
ruins his spiritual welfare, poison of which he can rid him- 
self only at the cost of much effort and suffering. 

4. Men never commit evil deeds with greater confi- 
dence and assurance that they are right than when com- 
mitting these deeds in the name of false religion. 

Pascal. 
VI. 
Wherein Consists the True Religion? 
1. But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Mas- 
ter, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. 

And call no man your father upon the earth : for one 
is your Father, which is in heaven. 

Neither be ye called masters : for one is your Master, 
even Christ. Matthew XXIII, 8-10. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 27 S 

i 

Thus taught Christ. And he taught thus because he 
knew that just as there were teachers in his day who taught 
a false doctrine of God so there would be such in times to 
come. He knew it and taught his followers not to obey 
men who call themselves teachers, because their teachings 
obscure the clear and simple doctrine which is manifest to 
all men and is implanted in the heart of every man. 

This doctrine is to love God as the highest good and 
truth, and to love your neighbor as yourself and to do unto 
others as ye would that others do unto you. 

2. Faith is not in knowing what has been and what 
will be, nor even in what is now, but only in knowing what 
each man ought to do. 

3. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and 
there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee ; 

Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; 
first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer 
tby gift. Matthew V, 23-24. 

Herein is true faith, but not in the rite, nor in the 
sacrifice, but in communion with people. 

4. The Christian doctrine is so simple that infants un- 
derstand it in its true sense. Only those fail to understand 
it who do not desire to lead a Christian life. 

In order to understand true Christianity, it is first of 
all needful to renounce the false. 

5. True worship is free of superstition; when super- 
stition enters it, worship itself is destroyed. Christ showed 
us wherein is true worship. He taught us that amidst all 
the activities of our life only our love one for another is 
the light and the blessing of man. He taught that we can 
attain happiness only then when we serve others and not 
our own self. 



276 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

6. If that which passes for the law of God does not 
call for love, it is human fabrication and not the law of 
God. Scovoroda. 

7. You will never know God if you believe all that is 
told you of God. 

8. You cannot know God from what is told you about 
Him. You can know God only by obeying that law which 
is known to every human heart. 

9. The substance of the teaching of Christ is in his 
manifestation of that divine perfection towards which men 
must strive throughout their life. But people who do not 
desire to follow the teaching of Christ, sometimes inten- 
tionally, sometimes unwittingly, understand the doctrine of 
Christ not as He taught it : as a constant striving after per- 
fection, but as though He had demanded divine perfection 
of men. And taking this corrupt view of Christ's doctrine, 
men who do not desire to follow Him have two ways open 
to them: they very correctly claim that perfection is unat- 
tainable, and then reject the entire doctrine as an imprac- 
tical dream (this is done by worldly people), or they adopt 
another method — the most popular and the most harmful, 
the practice of the majority of people who call themselves 
Christians, namely admitting that perfection is unattain- 
able, they correct, that is they corrupt the teaching, and in 
place of the true Christian teaching consisting of constant 
striving towards divine perfection, they observe certain so- 
called Christian rules, which for the most part are directly 
contrary to Christianity. . 

10. The idea of gatherings of Christians being gather- 
ings of the elect, of superior beings, is a non-Christian, a 
proud and an erroneous idea. Who is better, and who is 
worse ? Peter was better until the cock crew. The robber 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 277 

was worse until he reached the cross. Do we not know in 
our own self an angel and a devil taking part in our life, 
there being no creature that has banished the angel com- 
pletely from his heart, nor one without a devil leering at 
times from behind the angel. How can we, contradictory- 
beings as we are, compose gatherings of elect and of right- 
eous? 

There is a light of truth, and there are people striving 
towards it from all sides, from as many sides as there are 
radial lines in a circle, that is in an infinite variety of ways. 
Let us strive with all our might towards the light of truth 
that unites us all, but how close we may be to it, how far 
advanced towards a union with it, it is not for us to judge. 

VII. 

True Religion Unites Men More and More 

1. The corruption of Christianity has removed us from 
the realization of the Kingdom of God, but the truth of 
Christianity is like the flame of a camp fire ; choked for a 
season by green branches, it gradually dries the damp 
twigs, sets them on fire and breaks through in a blaze here 
and there. The true meaning of Christianity is already 
manifest to all and its influence is stronger than the decep- 
tions that have choked it. 

2. Listen to that profound dissatisfaction with the 
present form of Christianity which has seized our society 
and is expressed in murmurs of bitter resentment and sor- 
row. All are thirsting for the coming of the Kingdom of 
God. And it is drawing nigh. 

A purer Christianity slowly but surely replaces that 
which has been passing under that name. Channinq. 

3. From the days of Moses until the days of Jesus a 



278 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

vast mental and religious development took place among 
individual people and nations. From the days of Jesus until 
our times this progress in individuals and nations has been 
still more significant. Old delusions have been cast aside 
and new truths have penetrated into the consciousness of 
mankind. One man cannot be as great as humanity. If a 
man be so far ahead of his fellows that they do not under- 
stand him, a time comes when they catch up with him, then 
overtake him and so far outdistance him as to become in- 
comprehensible to those who remained where the great man 
had stood. Every religious genius sheds a brighter light 
upon religious truths and helps to bring men into a closer 
union. Parker. 

4. Just as each man individually, so all humanity in 
the aggregate must change, pass from lower stages to higher 
development, without stopping its growth, the limit of which 
is in God. Each state of man is the result of his preceding 
state. Growth is attained without interruption and imper- 
ceptibly, like the development of an embryo, so that noth- 
ing breaks the chain of the consecutive stages of this unin- 
terrupted growth. But if man and the entire human race 
are destined to be transformed, this change must be effected 
both in the case of the individual and of the entire human 
race in labor and sufferings. 

Before attaining grandeur, before passing into light, 
we must move in darkness, must suffer persecutions, must 
yield up our body to save our soul ; we must die, in order 
to be born into a new life, more vigorous and more per- 
fect. And after eighteen centuries, having completed one 
of the cycles of its development, mankind is again striving 
to transform itself. Old systems, old social orders, all that 
made up the world of olden days is being destroyed, and 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 279 

the nations are living mid wreck and ruin in terror and 
suffering. Therefore we must not lose courage in view of 
these ruins, and of these scenes of death, either occurring or 
about to occur. On the contrary, we must take courage. 
The union of people is not afar off. Lamenais. 



FALSE SCIENCE 



FALSE SCIENCE 

The superstition of science consists in the belief that 
the only true knowledge needed in the lives of all men is to 
be found exclusively in that body of information gathered 
haphazard out of the infinite domain of the knowable which 
has come under the observation of a certain clique of men 
in a given period — a clique of men who have set themselves 
free from the obligation to labor, whereas labor is needful 
to life, and who therefore lead an immoral and an irra- 
tional life. 



Wherein is the Superstition of Science? 

1. When men accept as indubitable truths that which is 
offered to them as such by others, without stopping to ex- 
amine it by the exercise of their reason, they fall into super- 
stition. Such is our modern superstition of science, namely 
recognition as indubitable truths of what is passed as truth 
by professors, academicians and men calling themselves 
scientists in general. 

2. Just as there is a false teaching of religion, even so 
there is a false teaching of science. The false doctrine of 
science is recognizing as the exclusively true science every- 
thing stated to be such by people who in a given period 
usurp the right of determining what is true science. 

And since not that is reputed as science which is need- 
ful to all men — but that which has been determined by men 
who have in a given period usurped the right of determin- 
ing what is science, such science ; s bound to be false. Even 
so it has happened in our world. 

3. Science occupies in this modern age literally the 



284 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

same place which centuries ago was held by sacrificial 
priesthood. 

The same recognized sacrificial priests — our profes- 
sors, the same castes of sacrificial priesthood in our science, 
academies, universities, congresses. 

The same confidence and absence of criticism on the 
part of the faithful, the same discords among the faithful — 
yet failing to perturb them. The same unintelligible words, 
the same self-reliant pride instead of thinking: 

"What is the use of arguing with him, he denies reve- 
lation!" "What is the use of arguing with him, he denies 
science !" 

4. The Egyptian did not look upon that which his 
priests presented to him under the guise of truth as mere 
belief (as we do now), but considered it the revelation of 
the highest knowledge attainable to man, in other words, 
as "science" : even so the unsophisticated men of to-day 
who have no knowledge of science accept as undubitable 
truths all that is offered them by the modern priests of sci- 
ence — they believe it all. 

5. Nothing is more subversive of true knowledge than 
the use of obscure ideas and phrases. Yet this is just the 
practice of the alleged scientists who make up obscure, ficti- 
tious invented words to bolster up obscure ideas. 

6. False religion and false science always express their 
dogmas in high-sounding terms which appear mysterious 
and significant to the uninitiated. The discussions of scien- 
tists are frequently as unintelligible to themselves as they 
are to others, even as the discussions of professional teach- 
ers of religion. A pedantic scientist uses foreign words 
and made-up terms and transforms the simplest things into 
something which is hard to understand just as prayers in a 
foreign language are unintelligible to illiterate parishioners. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 285 

Mysteriousness is not a proof of wisdom. The more truly 
wise a man is, the simpler the langauge in which he ex- 
presses his thoughts. 

II. 

Science Serves as an Excuse of the Present 
Social Order 

1. It would seem that in order to prove the importance 
of cultivating that which is known as science we should have 
to demonstrate that this cultivation is useful. But men of 
science generally say that since they occupy themselves with 
certain tasks, these occupations are bound to prove useful. 

2. The legitimate purpose of science is the recognition 
of truths serving to benefit mankind. The spurious pur- 
pose is to justify deceptions which introduce evil into the 
life of man. Such are the sciences of law and political 
economy, and most particularly philosophy and theology. 

3. There is as much fraud in science as in religion, 
and it springs from the same beginning, namely the desire 
to justify one's own weakness, and therefore scientific fraud 
is as harmful as religious fraud. People err and lead an 
evil life. The proper thing would be for men to realize 
that their life is evil, to try and change their mode of life 
and to live better. But here come all sorts of sciences: the 
science of the state, of finances, theology, criminology, sci- 
ence of police administration, political economy and history, 
and that most modern of all sciences — sociology — show- 
ing the laws by which men live and ought to live, and they 
prove that the evil life of men is not due to their own self, 
but to laws, and that it is not the duty of men to cease from 
evil and to change their life from an evil one to a good one, 
but to keep on living as they have been, in evil and weak- 
ness, but to ascribe these evils not to their own self, but to 



286 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

the laws as discovered and formulated by the scientists. 
This fraud is so unreasonable, so contrary to conscience 
that people would have never adopted it but for the reason 
that it encourages them in their evil life. 

4. We have ordered our life contrary to the moral 
and physical nature of man, and are fully convinced — just 
because everybody thinks so — that it is the one true mode 
of life. We dimly feel that what we call our social order, 
our religion, our culture, our sciences and arts, somehow 
fails to deliver us from our wretchedness, and even in- 
creases it. But we cannot resolve to submit it all to an 
examination by our reason, because we think that mankind 
having always believed in the necessity of compulsory so- 
cial order, religion and science, cannot exist without them. 

If the chick within the egg were gifted with human 
reason and were as little capable of using it as the people 
of the present age, he would never break through the shell 
of his egg and he would never know life. 

5. Science has become a distributor of licenses to live 
on the labors of others. 

6. The methodical gabble of our higher institutions of 
learning is merely a conspiracy to avoid the solution of 
difficult problems by giving a dubious meaning to words, 
because the convenient and frequently rational phrase "I 
don't know" is unwelcome in our academies. 

Kant. 

7. No two things are more divergent than science and 
profit, knowledge and money. If money is needed in order 
to become more learned, if learning is bought and sold for 
money, both the buyer and the seller deceive themselves. 
Christ drove the traders out of the temple. So should the 
traders be driven out of the temple of science. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 287 

8. Do not look upon science as a crown to be admired, 
nor as a cow to be milked. 

9. One of the most convincing proofs of the use of 
the word "science" to describe the most trifling and repulsive 
ideas is the existence of a science of punishment, which is 
the most ignorant of human activities, proper only to the 
lowest phase of human development — infancy or savagery. 

III. 

Harmful Effects of the Superstition of Science 

1. No clique of men has more confused ideas of reli- 
gion, morals and life than the men of science: and even 
more striking is the fact that although science has achieved 
really considerable success in the domain of the material 
world, it has proved either useless or directly harmful in the 
lives of men. 

2. Harmful is the spread of the belief among men that 
our life is the product of material forces and depends upon 
these forces. But when this belief assumes the name of sci- 
ence and passes for the sacred wisdom of mankind, the harm 
caused by such a belief is terrible. 

3. The development of science does not go hand in 
hand with an improvement in morals. In all nations whose 
history we know the development of science led directly to 
a corruption of morals. Our belief to the contrary is due 
to our confusing our banal and illusive science with the true 
supreme knowledge. Science in the abstract, science as 
such, demands respect, but modern science, that is what 
madmen call science, is worthy only of ridicule and con- 
tempt. Rousseau. 

4. The true explanation of the insane life of the peo- 
ple in the present age — so contrary to the thought of the 



288 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

best men of all times — is in the fact that our youth is taught 
a multitude of the most abstruse things: such as the state 
of celestial bodies, the condition of the globe for millions 
of years, the origin of the organism, but they are not taught 
the one thing needful to all and at all times: what is the 
meaning of human life, how to live, what the wisest men of 
all ages thought about it and how they solved the problem 
of life. The young generation is not taught all this, but is 
taught instead, under the name of science, the most arrant 
nonsense which even the teachers do not believe themselves. 
Instead of solid rock, the structure of our life rests on air- 
filled bubbles. How shall this structure escape a fall ? 

5. All that we call science is merely an invention of 
rich men to occupy their idle time. 

6. We live in an age of philosophy, science and reason. 
It seems as though all sciences had combined to illumine 
our path in the maze of human life. Immense libraries are 
open to all : colleges, schools, universities give us an oppor- 
tunity to make use of the wisdom of men accumulated in 
the course of thousands of years. It seems as though every- 
thing worked together to develop our mind and to 
strengthen our reason. Have we become better or wiser 
from it all? Do we know better what our duties are, and 
what is most important, wherein lies the blessedness of life? 
What have we acquired from all this futile knowledge, be- 
sides enmity, hatred, uncertainty and doubts? Every reli- 
gious teaching and sect proves that it alone has found the 
truth. . Every writer demonstrates that he alone knows 
wherein consists our happiness. One proves to us that 
there is no body. Another that there is no soul. A third 
one that there is no connection between body and soul. 
Again another that man is an animal. And still another 
that God is merely a mirror, Rousseau. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 289 

7. The principal evil of modern science is in the fact 
that unable as it is to study everything, not knowing — with- 
out the aid of faith — what it ought to study, it delves only 
into things that please the men of science who lead a life of 
error. 

The most pleasant thing for men of science is the ex- 
isting social order, which is profitable to them, and the satis- 
faction of an idle curiosity which does not call for much 
mental effort. 

IV. 

There is no Limit to the Number of Studies, But Man's 
Capacity of Comprehension is Limited 

1. A Persian philosopher said: "When I was young, 
I said to myself I will fathom all science. And I acquired 
almost all the knowledge given to man. But when I became 
old and I reviewed all I had learned, I discovered that my 
life was over, but that I knew nothing." 

2. The observations and calculations of astronomers 
have taught us much that is marvelous. But the most im- 
portant result of these researches is that they have revealed 
to us the abyss of our ignorance. Without these studies 
man could never grasp the immensity of this abyss. Medita- 
tion on this subject should work a great transformation in 
the determining of the ultimate aims of the activity of our 
reason. Kant. 

3. "There are plants on earth : we see them, but they 
are invisible from the moon. In these plants there are 
fibres, in these fibres there are tiny living organisms, but 
beyond that there is nothing more." What cocksureness ! 

"Complex bodies are composed of elements, and ele- 
ments are indissoluble." What cocksureness! 

Pascal. 



290 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

4. We lack knowledge even to understand the life of 
the human body. Consider what we require to know for 
it: the body requires space, time, motion, heat, light, food, 
water, air and many other things. In nature all these things 
are so closely associated that we cannot apprehend one of 
them without studying the others. We cannot know a part 
without knowing the whole. We shall know the life of our 
body only when we have learned all that it needs, and for 
this we must study the entire universe. But the universe 
is infinite, and its knowledge is unattainable to man. There- 
fore we cannot even fully fathom even the life of our body. 

Pascal. 

5. Experimental sciences, if pursued for their own 
sake without a guiding philosophical thought, are like a 
countenance without the eyes. They offer a form of occu- 
pation for men of average ability, but not gifted with su- 
preme genius which would only be in the way in petty in- 
vestigations. Men of such limited abilities concentrate all 
their powers and their knowledge upon a single well-defined 
scientific field where they can attain a fairly perfect knowl- 
edge while remaining entirely ignorant in every other direc- 
tion. They may be compared with workmen in clock fac- 
tories where some make only wheels, while others make 
springs and still others chains. Schopenhauer. 

6. Not the mass, but the quality of knowledge is of 
importance. It is possible to know many things, without 
knowing the essential things. 

7. The study of natural history in Germany has 
reached the phase of madness. Although to God man and 
insect may be of equal value, it is different as far as our 
reason is concerned. How many things are there which man 
must first put in order before he can take up birds and 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 291 

moths. Study your soul, train your mind to be cautious in 
judgment, instil mercy in your soul. Learn to know man 
and arm yourself with courage to speak the truth for the 
good of your fellow man. Sharpen your mind with mathe- 
matics if you can find no other means to attain the same 
end. But beware of classifying gnats, the superficial knowl- 
edge of which is utterly useless, and an exact knowledge of 
which would take you into infinity. 

"But God is as infinite in insects as he is in the sun," 
you might say. I willingly admit this. He is immeasurable 
also in the sands of the sea, the varieties of which you have 
never undertaken to systematize. If you feel no particular 
calling to seek pearls in the lands where this sand is to be 
found, stay at home and cultivate your field : it will need 
all your industry; and do not forget that the capacity of 
your brain is finite. There where you preserve the history 
of some butterfly, space might be found for thoughts of 
wise men that may be an inspiration to you. 

Lichtenberg. 

8. Socrates lacked that common weakness of discuss- 
ing in his arguments all sorts of existing things, speculating 
on the origin of what the sophists call nature, and progress- 
ing to the basic principles of the origin of celestial bodies. 
"Do men really imagine," he said, "that they have attained 
the knowledge of all things that are essential to them that 
they engage in speculating on things that so little concern 
them?" 

He marveled especially at the blindness of those alleged 
scientists who failed to realize that the human mind is in- 
capable of fathoming these mysteries. "This is why," he 
said, "all these men daring to discuss these mysteries fail 
to agree on basic principles, and as you listen to them when 
they meet together you seem to be near a gathering of mad- 



292 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

men. And what indeed are the distinguishing characteris- 
tics of the unfortunates possessed by lunacy? They fear 
the things wherein there is nothing terrifying, and boldly 
face those that are dangerous indeed." Xenophon. 

9. Wisdom is a great and extensive subject. It de- 
mands all the leisure that may be dedicated to it. No mat- 
ter how many problems you succeed in solving, there will 
be many more requiring investigation and solution over 
which you will have to toil. These problems are so vast, 
so numerous that they require the elimination from your 
consciousness of all extraneous matters so as to leave full 
scope for the labor of your mind. Should I waste my life 
on mere words? Yet it frequently happens that learned 
men think more of discussions than they do of life. Ob- 
serve how great an evil is caused by excessive hairsplitting 
and how harmful it may be to truth. Seneca. 

10. Science is food for the mind. And this food may 
be as harmful to the mind as physical food to the body, if it 
be impure or over-sweetened or absorbed in excessive quan- 
tities. It is possible to over-eat mentally and to be made 
sick thereby. 

In order to avoid this it is necessary to take mental 
food just as physical food, only when hungry, when feeling 
a desire for knowledge, and only then when knowledge is 
requisite for the soul. 

V. 

Of Varieties of Knowledge there is no End. The Busi- 
ness of True Science is to Select the Most Important 
and Necessary Among Them 
1. Not to know is neither shameful nor injurious — 
one cannot know everything, bi i t it is both shameful and 
injurious to pretend to know that which one does not know. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 293 

2. The capacity of the mind to absorb knowledge has 
its limits. Therefore you must not think that the more you 
know the better it is for you. The knowledge of a great 
mass of trifles is an insuperable obstacle to the knowledge 
of that which is truly needful. 

3. The mind is strengthened by the study of that 
which is needful and important to man and is weakened 
by the study of that which is useless and trifling just as 
surely as the body is strengthened by fresh air and food, and 
weakened by foul air and food. Raskin. 

4. In modern times a vast body of knowledge worthy 
of study has been accumulated. Soon our faculties will be 
too weak and our life too brief to assimilate even the most 
useful portion of this knowledge. A vast abundance of 
treasure is at our service, but having absorbed it we must 
reject much as needless rubbish. It is better then not to 
burden oneself with it. Kant. 

5. There is no end to knowledge. Therefore it cannot 
be said of him who knows much that he knows more than 
he who knows very little. 

6. One of the commonest phenomena of our times is 
to see men who consider themselves learned, educated and 
enlightened, knowing a vast mass of useless things, yet re- 
maining steeped in crassest ignorance, not alone failing to 
perceive the true meaning of life, but even glorying in their 
ignorance. And on the contrary it is just as common to 
find among uneducated and illiterate men, who know noth- 
ing of chemical agents, parallax or properties of radium, 
truly enlightened persons knowing the meaning of life and 
yet without any pride whatsover. 

7. People cannot know or understand everything that 
is going on in the world, wherefore their judgment on many 



294 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

things is incorrect. There are two kinds of lack of knowl- 
edge : one is the true, natural lack of knowledge, the state 
in which man is born. The other may be termed the 
nescience of the truly wise. When a man exhausts all the 
sciences and learns all that men know or have ever known, 
he must see that all this knowledge massed together is so 
trifling that it cannot enable him to comprehend the 
world of God, and he will come to the conclusion that 
learned people basically know as little as the ordinary un- 
lettered people. But there are superficial men who have 
learned a little here and a little there, who have familiarized 
themselves with surface knowledge of various sciences and 
have become 'conceited. They departed from the natural 
ignorance, but have not yet attained the true wisdom of 
those learned men who have grasped the imperfection and 
the futility of all human knowledge. These are the people, 
wise in their own estimation, who bring confusion into the 
world. They judge all things confidently and rashly, and 
naturally enough they err constantly. They know how to 
throw dust in the eyes of the people, and are frequently 
honored, but the common people despise them, being aware 
of their worthlessness. And they in turn despise the com- 
mon people, considering them ignorant. Pascal. 

8. People frequently think that the more one knows 
the better it is. This is not so. The main thing is not to 
know much, but to know the most needful out of the mass 
of knowable. 

9. Do not fear lack of knowledge, but fear excess of 
knowledge, particularly if this excessive knowledge be for 
profit or praise. It is better to know less than one might 
than more than one ought. Excessive knowledge makes 
men self-satisfied and self-assured, and therefore more fool- 
ish than they would be if they knew nothing. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 295 

10. Wise men are not as a rule learned, learned men 
are not as a rule wise. Lao-Tse. 

11. Owls see in the dark, but sunlight blinds them. 
Even so it is with learned people. They know much super- 
fluous scientific clap-trap, but neither know nor can know 
the most needful thing in life: how a man ought to live in 
the world. 

12. Socrates the philosopher said that stupidity is not 
to know little, but failing to know oneself and thinking that 
you know what you do not know. This he called stupidity 
plus ignorance. 

13. If a man knew all sciences and spake all languages 
but did not know what he is and what he ought to do, he 
would be less enlightened than the old woman who believes 
in a Saviour, that is in a God whose will she recognizes in 
her life and who knows that God demands righteousness of 
her. She is more enlightened than the scientist because she 
has found an answer to the most important question : what 
is her life and how she must live. Yet the scientist having 
the cleverest answers for the most complex, but essentially 
trifling questions, has no answer to the most important ques- 
tion of each rational being: why do I live, and what ought 
I to do ? 

14. People who think that the most important thing in 
life is knowledge are like moths that fly against the candle : 
they perish themselves and obscure the light. 

VI. 

Wherein is the Substance and the Aim of True Science? 

1. People either term that as science which is the most 
important science in the world, according to which man 
may learn how he ought to live in the world, or all that 



296 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

which it flatters a man to know and which may or may not 
do him any good. The first kind of knowledge is truly a 
great thing, but the second is for the most part a futile pur- 
suit. 

2. There are two unmistakable marks of true science : 
first an inner mark, in that the servant of science fulfills his 
calling not for gain, but in self-denial, and the second an 
outward mark in that his work is intelligible to all men. 

3. The life of the people in our present day is so or- 
ganized that nine hundred ninety-nine thousandths of the 
people are constantly occupied with physical toil and have 
neither time nor possibility to take up science or art. But 
one thousandth of the people, having exempted itself of 
physical toil, has composed science and arts to suit itself. 
The question is what sort of science and arts can there be 
under such conditions ? 

4. The life task of each man is to become increasingly 
better. Therefore only those sciences are good which help 
him in this task. 

5. A learned man is a man who knows very many 
things out of all sorts of books. An educated man is he 
who knows what is now currently accepted among people. 
An enlightened man is he who knows why he lives and what 
he ought to do. Do not try to be either learned or educated, 
but strive to become enlightened. 

6. If in real life illusion mars reality but for a mo- 
ment — in the domain of the abstract illusion can rule for 
thousands of years and impose its iron yoke upon entire 
nations, choking the noblest impulses of mankind, and with 
the help of the slaves deceived by it, shackle those whom it 
cannot deceive. It is the enemy with whom the wisest 
minds of all ages engaged in unequal combat, and what they 
won from it in conquest is the noblest heritage of mankind. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 297 

If it is said that we must seek truth even where no profit 
can be foreseen from it, because gain may be found where 
it is least expected, we may also add that we must as zeal- 
ously seek out and eradicate every delusion where no harm 
from it can be foreseen, for harm may appear and be mani- 
fested where least expected, as every delusion contains a 
poison. There are no harmless delusions, and certainly no 
venerable or sacred delusions. It may be boldly stated, in 
consolation of those who devote their lives to the noble and 
arduous war against delusions of any kind, that error may 
do its work at night like owls and bats until the light of 
truth appears, but there is more likelihood of the owls and 
bats frightening the sun and driving it back whence it came 
than of old delusions forcing out a realized truth, fully and 
clearly expressed — and of taking unhindered the place va- 
cated by it. Such is the power of truth: it gains victory 
with difficulty and with trouble, but once the victory is 
gained it cannot be turned back. Schopenhauer. 

7. Since men have lived in the world there have been 
wise men among all nations who taught them that which is 
most needful for man to know : that wherein is the calling 
and therefore the true blessedness of every man and of all 
people. Only he who knows this can judge of the impor- 
tance of all other kinds of knowledge. 

There is no end to scientific subjects, and without 
knowledge of what constitutes the calling and the blessed- 
ness of all people, there is no possibility of choice in this 
infinite range of subjects, and for that reason without such 
knowledge all other kinds of knowledge become an idle and 
harmful amusement — even as they have become among us. 

8. If men turn to modern science not for the satisfac- 
tion of idle curiosity, nor in order to play a role in the world 
of science, to write, to argue, to teach ; nor yet in order to 



298 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

make a living by science, but turn to it with direct and sim- 
ple questions of life, they find that science will answer thou- 
sands of involved and intricate questions, but never the one 
question to which every rational being seeks an answer ; the 
question — what am I, and how ought I to live ? 

9. To study all sciences that are unnecessary to spir- 
itual life, such as astronomy, mathematics, physics, etc., 
even as to indulge in all kinds of amusements, games, car- 
riage riding, promenading is permissible when any of these 
occupations do not keep you from doing that which you 
ought to do, but it is wrong to engage in superfluous 
sciences, or indulge in empty amusements, when they hinder 
the true tasks of life. 

10. Socrates pointed out to his disciples that in ration- 
ally arranged education each science has certain bounds 
which should be reached, but which should not be over- 
stepped. Of geometry, he said, know enough to be able to 
measure correctly a plot of land which you buy or sell, or 
to divide an inheritance, or to divide a task among laborers. 
"This is so easy," he said, "that with a little effort no meas- 
urements would give you any trouble, though you had to 
measure the entire earth." But he did not approve of being 
enticed by difficult problems in this science, and although 
he personally knew them all, he said that they could fill the 
life of man and distract him from other useful sciences, 
without being of any use themselves. Of astronomy he 
found desirable to know enough to tell from simple indica- 
tions the hour of the night, the day of the month, the season 
of the year, to find one's direction, to steer by at sea and to 
relieve watchmen. "This science is so easy," he added, 
"that it is accessible to any hunter or mariner or to anyone 
who cares to give it a little study." But to proceed so far 
with it as to study the course of the various celestial bodies, 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 299 

to calculate the size of the planets and stars, their distance 
from the earth, their movements and changes, this he se- 
verely criticized, because he saw no advantage in such oc- 
cupation. He had so low an opinion of these things not 
because of ignorance, for he had studied all these sciences, 
but because he did not desire men to waste their time and 
powers upon superfluous occupations instead of expending 
them upon that which men need most of all : the perfecting 
of their morals. Xenophon. 

VII. 

On Reading Books 

1. See that the reading of many authors and all sorts 
of books do not produce confusion and uncertainty in your 
mind. It is meet to nourish your mind only on writers of 
undoubted merit. Excessive reading distracts the mind and 
weans it from independent work. Therefore read only old 
and thoroughly good books. If you conceive at any time a 
desire to turn to works of a different character never forget 
to return to the former. Seneca. 

2. Read first of all the best books, otherwise you may 
never find time to read them at all. Thoreau. 

3. It is better never to read a book than to read many 
books and to believe all that is contained in them. One 
may be wise without reading a single book ; but believe all 
that is written in books and you are bound to be a fool. 

4. In authorship the same thing is repeated as in real 
life. The majority of people are foolish and deluded. For 
this reason there are so many evil books, there is so much 
literary rubbish among the good grain. Such books only 
purloin people's time, money and attention. 

Bad books are not only useless, but harmful. Nine- 



300 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

tenths of all books are printed to coax people's money out 
of their pockets. 

It is therefore better not even to read the books of 
which much is said or written. People ought first of all to 
become acquainted with and read the best authors of all 
ages and nations. These books must be read first of all. 
Otherwise you will hardly have a chance to read them all. 
Only such authors can instruct and educate us. 

We can never read too few bad books nor too many 
good books. Bad books are a moral poison stupefying the 
people. Schopenhauer. 

5. Superstitions and delusions trouble the people. 
There is but one deliverance from them: the truth. We 
know the truth both in ourselves and through the wise and 
holy men who lived before us. Therefore in order to live 
well and righteously we must seek the truth ourselves and 
make use of the directions which have reached us from the 
wise and holy men of old. 

6. One of the most powerful means of learning the 
truth that delivers from superstition is in studying all that 
mankind has done in the past towards the recognition of 
the eternal truth, common to all mankind, and towards 
expressing it. 

VIII. 

Of Independent Thinking 

1. Every man may and should make use of everything 
'hat the aggregate reason of mankind has evolved, but at 
the same time he must let his reason examine the data 
worked out by all mankind. 

2. Knowledge is only then knowledge when it has 
been acquired by an effort of a man's own thinking rather 
than by memory alone. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 301 

Only when we have forgotten everything that has been 
taught us do we begin to know truly. I shall not come a 
hair's breadth closer to the knowledge of things as long as 
I look upon them as I have been taught to do. In order to 
know an object I must approach it as something entirely 
tsinknown to me. Thoreau. 

3. We expect from a teacher that he first make his 
pupil a reasoning person, then a rational one and finally a 
learned one. 

> This method has the advantage that though the pupil 
may never attain the final stage, which is usually the case, 
he still may profit from instruction and will become more 
experienced and wiser — if not for the purposes of the school, 
then at least for those of life. 

But if this method is inverted, then the pupils are apt 
to catch something of cleverness before their reasoning 
faculties have been developed and to take away from school 
a borrowed knowledge, like something that is glued to them 
but has not been assimilated by them, and their spiritual 
faculties remain sterile as before, but at the same time 
much vitiated by a spurious learnedness. Therein is the 
cause why we frequently meet men of learning (or rather 
of instruction) who show so little reason, and why so 
many more blockheads come into the world out of colleges 
than from any other social class. Kant. 

4. Science is not in schools. In schools we find the 
finical ignorance of dunces. Science is in books and in the 
individual and independent labor of acquiring knowledge 
from books, but it is by no means in the schools, where since 
the days of the invention of the art of printing nothing has 
ever remained of science but a musty trace. 

The character of school instruction is dry, mind-killing 



302 THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 

pedantry. This is inevitable. Who will not tire of saying 
the same thing over and over again for ten or twenty years ? 
The instructor nearly always engages in his profession with 
loathing, and to relieve his tedium exchanges science for 
mere formalism. And in addition the stupid monotony of 
his trade makes of him a plain fool. 

N. G. Tchernyshevsky. 

5. In all classes we meet people of mental superiority 
though frequently not possessed of any learning. The nat- 
ural mind may replace almost any degree of learning, but 
no amount of learning may replace the natural mind, and 
though the latter as compared with the former has the ad- 
vantage of a wealth of knowledge of cases and facts (his- 
torical information) and definition of causality (natural 
sciences) — in methodical and easily surveyed arrangement, 
this does not yet give a more accurate or a deeper view of 
the real substance of all these facts, cases and causalities. 
The man without learning, by sagacity and quick judgment 
of all things, can easily do without these riches. One in- 
stance out of his own experience can teach him more than 
a thousand instances, which another may know without 
having fully grasped their significance, will teach a man of 
learning, and the knowledge of the untutored man is a 
living knowledge. 

But on the contrary much that an ordinary man of 
learning knows is dead knowledge, which if it does not 
entirely consist of empty words, frequently consists of ab- 
stract ideas attaining significance only to the extent that the 
possessor thereof exhibits judgment and a lofty under- 
standing of the questions under discussion. But if this un- 
derstanding be scant, such discussion is bound to lead to 
bankruptcy, just as a bank that issues obligations exceeding 
tenfold its cash assets. Schopenhauer. 



THE PATHWAY OF LIFE 303 

6. How much superfluous reading could we but avoid 
if we thought independently. 

Is reading and learning one and the same ? Some one 
asserted, not without reason, that although the art of print- 
ing helped the spread of learning, it did so at the cost of its 
quality and character. Too much reading is harmful to 
thinking. The greatest thinkers whom I have met among 
people of learning have always read the least. 

If people were only taught how to think, and not merely 
that they should think, this misunderstanding would be 
removed. Lichtenberg. 



H J*9 82 Щ 




4> e "«, <$> 




" # ^§§^.* ' PreservationTechnologies 

** \Г-> C\ A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 



1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 1606ft 
(724)779-2111 



A\\\» YfiSSL. » 



°o 




.* 








N. MANCHESTER 
INDIANA 46962 






ѵ"Я 



%£ 



и 



